Untitled Sermon

upon. See now, see now, see now. Chapter 1, follow along with me in verse 18. Paul writes, but what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached, and because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and yet what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two.

I do not know. I do not know. I do not know. I do not know. I do not know. I do not know. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it's more necessary for you that I remain in the body, and convinced of this I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again,

your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. The little girl was brought to the trauma center as the result of an accident involving a drunken, drunk driver. She was wheeled quickly into the emergency room, and after a brief observation, the doctor emerged to inform the concerned parents that she'd received severe trauma to her head, and as a result, there were fluids building up inside the brain that needed to be removed or she could die. The doctor quickly informed the parents of this procedure, which would involve opening the base of her skull and inserting a tube in, in which to drain the fluid and remove the pressure. The decision had to be left up to the doctor. The doctor had to be left up to the

parents. Without hesitation, the parents said, Doctor, whatever's necessary, whatever's necessary to save the life of our little girl, go ahead and do it, whatever's necessary. It's easy for us to say that in a situation similar to that, when it involves saving the life of a loved one. But how many of us in our Christian walk have gotten to the point where we can honestly say to the Lord, whatever's necessary. Whatever you have to do, Lord, do it. Whatever's

necessary for your glory to be manifested in my life. Whatever's best for you, Lord, whatever would be best for others, do it. Whatever's necessary. See, usually my tendency is to pray, not me, Lord, you know, not my child, not my family, not my life, not there, Lord, you know, Lord, I'll serve you. Use me, Lord, in whatever way, possible, only don't, you know, don't send me here. Don't expose my area of sin. Don't take

the life of my child. Whatever's necessary, accept, is often how I find myself praying, and maybe you can identify. But if we really believe God's Word, if we really believe that He is a loving God, that He is not only loving, but that He is the source of love, that love comes from Him, and only in a relationship with Him do we, really, know what love is and know how to love. If we really believe that, and then we really believe that everything that He does moves from His love, that because He is love, in its essence, that whatever He does is loving as a result. If we really believe that, that anything that comes

into our life is filtered through the hands of a loving God. If we really believe that no good thing will He withhold from those who walk with Him. If we really believe that those who seek His face will find it. If we really believe that the thoughts that He has towards us are thoughts of good and not evil, He's not spiteful. If we really believe that, then there is nothing that we cannot

commit to Him. There's nothing that I cannot trust Him with. Paul had come to that point, had come to that understanding where he could say to the Lord, Lord, whatever's necessary, do it. Hold your place here in Philippians and go back with me to Acts chapter 20 for just a minute, to your left just a minute. Acts chapter 20. Paul has moved through the different churches that he established on previous

visits and is moving now back towards Jerusalem with an offering for the Jerusalem church that he's collected from the different churches of Macedonia and all. And he comes by the area of Ephesus and summons the Ephesian elders to him. And in chapter 20, he says down in verse 22, and now compelled by the Spirit, Paul had gotten to the point that he could say, whatever's necessary, whatever, Lord, if I am to go to prison and be beaten and stoned and beheaded, then whatever's necessary. He knew that those were the things that were possibly waiting for him in Jerusalem.

And he said, whatever's necessary, it makes no difference for I count my life worth nothing to me. Now, back to Philippians, although I think we can affirm that this morning, that that's what we want to be before the Lord. We want to walk that way before the Lord, able to say, Lord, whatever's necessary. Some pill I can give you. It's not just the fact that that's what we're looking at in verses 22

through 26. So as you go through this study this morning and these verses, you're going to walk out of here and be able to say that and surrender everything to the Lord, no matter what, because it's progressive. It's a part of our growing in the Lord. This entire study of Philippians is a progressive study. Paul is talking about these things that we'll look at today in his ability

to say to God, whatever's necessary, if I am to go to prison and be beaten and stoned and stoned and whatever's necessary. And we've seen it progress from verse one when we found out what Paul saw himself as being, who he was. He's a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Verse one, what he is, he's haggios. He's set apart under the Lord, a saint set apart under God. Where he is, he's in Christ

Jesus, all in verse one. And he knew that and he had to know that. And we have to know that to progress. Verses three through six, he cultivated a habit of prayer, a habit of prayer that saw others' needs as greater than his own. He prayed for them first before his own needs. He prayed God would bless them, that God would nurture them and supply their needs. It moved him, verses seven

through 10, into an attitude of wanting to love others with that longing and that same affection that Christ had. And it's a love that sometimes withholds, not just gives, gives whenever someone wants. It's a love that sometimes says, no good thing will he withhold from those who walk with him. And sometimes that implies that they're not going to walk with him. And sometimes that implies

that they're not going to walk with him. And sometimes that implies that they're not going to walk with him. There are things God withholds, but no good thing will he withhold from those who walk with him. And so there's, there's an understanding of how we're to love with that love of Christ, verses seven through 10. Then verses 12 through 21, last time we saw the area of,

of Paul's philosophy of life that developed, which he summed up in verse 21. And it literally could read, for me to live, Christ, to die, gain. And verses 12 through 20 talked about the circumstances that he was in. And, and some were seeking to ridicule him, to condemn him, to heap pressures upon him while he was still in prison. And he said, Hey, it doesn't bother me.

Christ is preached. God knows the circumstances. God's allowed the circumstances, the gospels being advanced as a result of the circumstances. So it really doesn't make any difference to me, the circumstances for me to live Christ and to die gain. See, that's, that has all progressed in Paul's life before we get to these verses, before we get to verse 22. So Paul didn't just

all of a sudden be able to say, whatever, whatever. Whatever's necessary. He wanted to, but he came to understand that through his own growth in the Lord. And that's, what's going to happen in our own lives. Excuse me. As we grow, God will continue to point out little things in your life that he sees that you have a hand on that you're hanging on to. And he's, he wants that because we have a tendency, whatever we hang on to, to make it a

God, to make it more important than him. He wants us to let go and let him have it. And so that's what he'll point at. That's what he'll touch. That's the area that he'll move in our life. Not, not spitefully or, or grudgingly, but lovingly causing us to let go so that we'll be able to say whatever's necessary, Lord, whatever's necessary. I don't believe Job said what he said in chapter one, after everything was taken away from him,

just as some kind of verse that he learned in Sunday school. Job walked with God and God blessed Job. He had many possessions and he had a large family, many children. And I think Job could handle the messengers coming. To him that day, that fateful day that they came and one after another, one brought a report that his camels had all been stolen. And one brought a report that his herds had all been taken by

thieves and the possessions that he had had been stolen. And then the last one though, that came brought the news that hurt him the worst that he feared hearing the most. And that was that a wind had come upon the house of his children while they were all gathered together, meeting together for some event. And, and the house collapsed. And all of his children were killed. And this one messenger had been left alive to come and tell

Job that. And it says that Job stood and he ripped his clothes and he put ashes on his head and he fell on his knees and worshiped God. And he said, naked, I came into this world and naked, I shall return. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You see, I don't think Job just learned that in Sunday school. I think it grew. You can go to Job and

read about Job's life and you'll see everything in Philippians one. He knew who he was. He knew the things that had been given to him. He was just set apart under the Lord's use, the Lord's work. He knew how to cultivate a habit of prayer. You read that in chapter one, he prayed diligently for the lives of his children, just in case they'd committed any sin. He longed for them with the

love of God. He wanted them to grow up knowing God. He had all of these progressive features, knowing God. He had all of these progressive features, knowing God. He had all of these so that when this particular event happened, he could say, whatever's necessary, Lord, I don't understand it, but whatever's necessary. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Brothers and

sisters, to learn to rejoice in the Lord, which is what Philippians, our study of Philippians is all about. To learn to rejoice in the Lord, to learn to rejoice, chapter one is to learn to rejoice in the opportunities to serve Christ. You and I have to come to that point where we can say to God, whatever's necessary, whatever's necessary, Lord, do it. Now, in these verses, and actually from verses 22 through 30, 22 through the end of this chapter, Paul's dealing with this, this area of saying whatever's necessary, Lord. And in understanding

this, we're going to look at it in two parts. So part one's today and part two will be next week. We're just going to look at verses 22 through 26 so that we can understand what's necessary in being able to say to God, whatever's necessary. Two things are brought out in these verses. Verses 22 through 26, Paul says, Paul tells us or shows us that we must see the need to remain here. And I'll explain that today

to be able to say to God, whatever's necessary, Lord, do it. We need to be able to see the need to remain here. And then secondly, to be able to say to God, whatever's necessary, do it. We need to be able to see the need to face opposition and conflict. There is a need for us to face opposition and conflict. And we need to understand that before we can ever say to the Lord,

whatever's necessary. God, do it. So we, first of all, have to see the need there is for us to remain here. Look at verse 22. Paul says, if I'm to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know. The very first thing in our seeing a need to remain here and to be able to say to God, whatever's necessary, Lord, do is to first of all, understand that we have

been called by God to labor for him. All of this sounds easy, but let me draw it together. It sounds simple, but yet it's... It's more difficult to practically do than it is to just understand. The first thing we have to understand in seeing that we have a need to remain here is that we have been called to labor for the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew chapter nine, and you know the verse, the harvest is ripe. It's

plentiful. It's great. But the laborers are few. Pray therefore for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers unto the harvest. He was telling that to the disciples. The disciples were the intended laborers. We are Christ's disciples. We are the laborers sent into the harvest, sent to harvest the souls of mankind. We have been called to labor for the Lord and harvesting souls. In first Corinthians chapter

three, Paul calls himself a master builder. He's a master builder who's building on the foundation of Christ, the foundation of the gospel of Christ. And he calls us, co-laborers with him in the building up of the church, in the building up of the body of Christ. So we're called co-laborers. We are called by Christ laborers for the harvest. And Paul realizes

in being able to say to God, whatever's necessary, Lord do, that he was called to be a laborer for the Lord. And he expected as such to bear fruit. Verse 22, if I'm to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. He anticipated, bearing fruit as long as he was alive. He saw himself as a laborer for the Lord and anticipated bearing fruit for the Lord as long as he was alive. Now you, you and I have conflict in our

Christian walk when we labor for any other reason or for any other purpose, you and I are called to be laborers for Christ. I've shared this before and I will go on sharing it. That's the only reason we're here. That's the only reason you and I still breathe. It's because we like Paul in Acts chapter 20 have been committed with the task of testifying of the gospel of the grace of God. That's it. That's why you and I are existing.

If the conflict is, is when we see ourselves laboring for any other reason, if you're laboring towards retirement, if that's your life, then you're going to have all kinds of conflict in your life. If you're laboring towards having a family, if you're laboring towards a career, if you're laboring towards getting married, if that's the focus of your life, if that's what you see yourself as called to do here, then you're going to have all kinds of problems in life because that's not what you're here for. You're called a laborer of Christ. You are called to labor for him in the testifying of the gospel of the grace of God. Where doesn't

matter. So in other words, our function here really is immaterial. God's promised to provide for our needs. And so the where is really not the place to be. And so the where is really not the something we're to be concerned with, but that is usually what occupies the greatest of our attention. And so we end up seeing the God stuff is here and the rest of life is out there. And we

only are concerned about the God stuff when we're here. And that's why we run into all kinds of conflict because we end up serving two masters and you can't do that. We end up loving the one and hating the other. And it's called mammon by Jesus. And most commentators have, have associated that with money. And that's probably rightfully so. Because what do we seek to use money for normally? Us, our benefits, things we need,

things we want. It takes a change in a life in the heart of an individual to see that money now as a channel and an opportunity to minister to others first, instead of seeking to pad our needs. And so we end up serving two masters and really the masters are us and God. What's for me or what's for the Lord. And that's where the conflict ensues. And so Paul is calling

us to understand that if we're going to be able to say in our Christian walk, whatever's necessary, Lord, the first thing we have to do is see that we are laborers for Christ. That is our calling. You have family members, you have friends, you have people that you work with that need to hear the testimony about the gospel of the grace of God. That's why you exist. And we'll develop this

a little further as we get down in here a little more. So Paul anticipated this. That's what he knew what he was, what he was called for. And he anticipated bearing fruit as a result of that. And so he says, Now in the Greek, that's, that's a little more emphatic. It's, it's literally, it literally could read if, and it is so some of your translations may say, since I am to go on living in the body,

it was something that Paul understood that basically what he's saying is I'm not dead yet. So since I'm still alive, I am to go on laboring for Christ. I am to go on ministering this gospel of grace to others. I am to labor for the Lord. And that attitude was based upon the principle of life that he lived by in verse 21, for me to live Christ and to die gain. Now we think we only have so much time in

this life to accomplish things. And that's usually what gets us into trouble. I'm 20 years old or 25 and I'm not married yet, or I don't have a career plotted out yet, or I don't have, I haven't started a family yet, you know, and, and we set ourselves up on these timetables thinking that we have to accomplish these things. By this and such a time. And I'm not, I'm not demeaning goals. I think a life without goals

is pointless. But James says, oh, foolish one, you who say tomorrow, I'll do this or that better. You should say, if the Lord wills tomorrow, I'll do this or that for none of you is guaranteed tomorrow. But how often do we say, well, I'm going to do this and this and this and this and this. And we don't even think about God until something comes in. It affects that schedule, that goal. And then we cry out to God, Lord, you know, how come I'm not

making this? But we never consulted him in the first place to see if that's the goal he was wanting for us anyhow. And so we end up in conflict and it brings on anxiety and frustration and tension in our lives when we think we have to accomplish these things by a certain time schedule. And, you know, the whole thing is, is we got to get it and get done before we're 65 so that we can retire because then not too far.

After that is death. And it's like, we've got to get all of this done before death. And if you and I would really take time to think about the, how illogical that is racking up all this stuff, racking up all these things that we want to accomplish that we're going to die and leave here. That's stupid, but that's what the whole world labors after. That's their labor. And we

are as Christians caught up in that, unless we come to the point of seeing God's call in our life this way to see that God, whatever's necessary, I'm your bond. Slave. I'm set apart unto you. I'm in Christ. Whatever you want to do with me, Lord is fine with me. It's, it's so sad when we read about someone who has a terminal illness, a cancer or something, and they're, they're a young child, especially, but the reason that it's so often

affects us adversely is because of these things that we think they're going to miss in life. They're going to miss being a mother or a father. They're going to miss the opportunities to have a career. They're going to miss the opportunity of growing old with grandkids and all of that. We think of it in terms as the things they are going to miss because they have this terminal

disease. Well, let me tell you something. Everybody in this room has a terminal disease. It's called life. You are all in the process of dying. You think you're in the process of growing up and growing old and some growing out, but you and I are in the process of dying. The minute you and I were born, we began to die. Slave. Slave. Slave. And the timing of that is really immaterial. You see, when a young child dies of a terminal

disease, we think of the things they're going to miss, but we don't think of the things like divorce of parents, death of a parent, child abuse that may go on in the home,

that brings about beating and abuse and possible STDs, possible HIV, possible AIDS, them having children out of wedlock and maybe going through the course of, you know, gang dealings. We don't think about that when we think about a terminal illness. We think about all the things that we consider good. But listen, apart from Christ, there isn't anything that's good. Apart from Christ, there's nothing that will fulfill. Apart from Christ, apart from

coming to that point where for me to live Christ, apart from that, nothing satisfies. And you'll never attain what you think you're going after, and it will never fulfill you. It will never satisfy you. And Paul had come to that point to understand that. And so in trying to explain to the Philippians and to us, he says, I'm a laborer. And as long as I'm alive, since I'm alive, it's to

go on to labor. It's to go on to tell people about Christ. I read in a devotional this morning before I came to church, a devotional called Daily with the King. And in there, the author was talking about what it is to be normal for God. You see, we struggle to be normal. That's why kids dress the way they dress in every generation. It's to be normal among their peers, to be accepted among

their peers. Hair long, peers long. Hair short, it's because the peers wear it short. Hair long, short. Long pants, short pants, whatever. Ties, no ties. It's all to be accepted. It's all to fit in. It's all to be normal. Well, there's a normal with God, and it's to be just consumed with Him, that He is my life, that He is my salvation. Paul said, in Him we live and move and have our being.

For me to live is Christ. That's normal for a Christian. Now, if that's true for you, then you will appear not to be normal to those around you. You see, the world, it tolerates a little bit of God. If you want to talk about God in your conversations, that's okay, somewhat. Just don't talk about Him all the time. If you want to mention His name, that's okay. If

you even occasionally want to pray, that's all right, but don't just wrap your life around Him. Don't just pray all the time. Don't just think He wants to be involved in every single minute of every part of your existence. That's not normal to the world. And so, see, you and I as Christians have a choice as to who we're going to be normal to. Are we going to be normal to God? This is the

way a Christian acts? Are we going to be normal to the world? If we're going to be normal to the world, we're going to be normal to the world. If we're going to be normal to the world, we're going to be to the Lord, then we're laborers. My call, my function, as long as I breathe, since I am here, it's to labor, to bring forth fruit, and we expect to bring forth fruit. So, that's first. That's

first. We are laborers for Christ, and there's a need for us to be here. And I'm going to emphasize that again. You need to see the need to remain here. Look at the rest of verse 22 and verse 23. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me, yet what shall I choose? I do not know. I'm torn between the two. I desire to depart and to be with Christ,

which is better by far. When you and I get in a tough circumstance, if we're growing in the Lord, then we come to a point that says, whatever's necessary, Lord, we need to see the need to remain through the circumstance. You see, it's easy to leave. It's harder to remain. And when we say to the Lord, whatever's necessary, we need to remain. And when we say to the Lord, whatever's necessary,

in my own mind, I know I'm saying, when I say that, I'm saying, ace me, Lord, if you want to, you know, grease me out, if that's what you want. If you want me to be a little grease spot in the road, then do that if that's necessary. And what he's saying is, no, it's going to be more difficult to remain. But that's where my glory will come out as you remain through the circumstance.

You see, the generation today is buying the idea that it's, when it gets tough, leave. When it gets to the point where things are too hard, it's time to go, because it's just, it's too hard. It's easier to leave. It's harder to remain. And to be able to say whatever's necessary, Lord, we have to see the need to remain. Now, Paul saw the two, and that's what

he's talking about here. But he leaves the choice to Christ. He said, hey, I'm in a, I'm in a, I don't know what to choose. I'm torn between the two. Now, it says torn in NIV. The word literally means I'm pressed. In other words, he's being held together. And that's interesting. His very existence is being held together by the two. In other words, either one's great with him, to go or to stay. I'm being held together. That's what's holding me

up, because neither one of them scares him. What scares you this morning, living or dying? In Christ, neither one will, if we understand whatever's necessary and the need to remain. Paul says, I'm in a, I'm in a straight between the two. I'd rather go. I'd rather depart and be with the Lord. Death would be great, Paul says, because I go to be with him. But he ends up saying,

it's not my choice. I'm leaving that to the Lord. Whatever's necessary, Lord. I want you to see something powerful here. Doctor-assisted suicide is from the pit of hell. Euthanasia is another step in regression away from the things of God. Francis Schaeffer warned us 25 years ago that if we, if abortion became something in our society that was accepted as normal, accepted as routine,

that the next thing we'd see was, infanticide. And following closely on the heels of infanticide would be euthanasia, mercy killing. And now we have partial birth abortion that the president has said is necessary for the life and safety of the mother. Partial birth abortion is nothing less than three-fourths of a delivery of a perfectly viable baby. The head is left in the birth canal. A doctor takes

scissors or a scalpel, makes an incision in the base of the skull in the child, sucks, destructions out the brains, and then takes some clamps and crushes the skull so that the baby can be delivered dead. That is infanticide. That is the killing of children. Following that, he said, would come, and there's, and along with that, there have been several aborted babies, saline abortion and all, that have survived. They've come out, and the doctors just simply set them in a little pan

off in another room to die. That's infanticide. Following that, he said, and the regression would be euthanasia, would be the act of mercy killing. This is seeing it as an act of mercy to end someone's suffering. If you read the scriptures, and this is what we'll deal with a lot next week, if we're going to say whatever's necessary, then we need to see the reality that we're going to

face opposition and conflict, and that's suffering. If God is a loving God, then in the midst of that suffering, He's there, and He brings relief, and He brings the suffering. The strength that's necessary to endure it, and if we're going to say whatever's necessary, you can't say whatever's necessary up to, or whatever's necessary except. Following euthanasia is the eradication of the elderly, because after all, what a better way to solve the social security problem. We just make it mandatory that at 65 you go to sleep. Following that is the eradication of

those with deformities, physical maladies, retardation, because then we'll just have a pure, healthy race of people. Individuals that are able to be productive and supply the needs for everybody else, and you have a Hitleristic society all over again, which is really from the pit, from Satan's desire to destroy the nation of Israel from its inception. The choice has got to be the Lord's, not ours, and Paul left that choice to God. Whatever's necessary, Lord, I'm held together between either one. I can stay

here. I'd rather go be with you. It's far better. I'd rather depart and get out of here. I would too. Some days this world stinks so bad. The things that are going on in the lives of the people, the people that are around me, cause me to ache so much. I just want to go. I just want to leave. My girls are old enough now that soon I'll have grandkids, and the thought of having grandkids grow up in this putrefying age

is scary. There's some days I just like to say, I'm ready. Let's go. I'm ready to depart, but he left the choice to God. His personal desire, he says here, my desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. The word depart means to loose up, to loose up. Now, it's not wrong to desire to depart. Just leave the choice to him, okay? The word depart means to loose up, and it's

picturesque language in the Greek, and to the church, it always implied the soon coming of the Lord. It was always associated with the rapture of the church, with the catching away of the believers. It was used in secular Greek of the armies when it was time to move camp. They would say, loosen up, and they would pull the tent pegs out, and the tents would come down, and they'd be ready to pack up and move somewhere else, and that's a picture of us. Loosen up. Let go of the

stuff down here. Let go of your hold here. We're ready to go. Don't be bogged down with the tent pegs hammering into the ground trying to stay here. Let's just loosen up. Keep it light. We're ready to go at any time. It had a picture of a boat that's ready to set sail, and the anchor's brought up, and the ship is now ready to be moved out to sea, the course that the wind was going to

carry it. The same idea. We're not anymore to be tossed to and fro, meandering through this life, however Satan desires to blow, but we're ready to go, to be with the Lord, and the anchor's up, Lord. Call us home anytime. We're ready to go. It has the same idea. It's used in secular Greek, secular writing to imply the taking off, the loosing of the yoke off of the animals

that have labored in the field, the removal of the harnesses and all, taking them off, and the animals being able to relax and go back into grazing and all after a hard day's work. The same thing with you and me as laborers for Christ. Loosen up. I desire to loosen up. Take off the yoke of this life, man, and go be with the Lord and refresh around the throne. Drink in some of

the presence of Christ. Loosen up. I desire to loosen up. And they said, which is far better. The English has tidied that up a bit. In the Greek, it's very expressive, but it's very inarticulate. It means, I desire to depart, which is much more better by far. In other words, man, that's the hot fudge Sunday. You know, that's what I'm waiting for. That's Paul's personal desire.

So in verse 24, he says,

It's more necessary for you, in God's schedule, in God's timetable, for your sake, I'm here. Whatever's necessary, Lord, not so that I can get more, not so that I can grow up and have all of this stuff that I long for that's in my schedule of things, but whatever's necessary, Lord, for your sakes, for my family that doesn't know the Lord, for my friends and my co-workers that don't know the Lord, for their sakes, Lord, I'm here. On your timetable of things, I'm still breathing. Since I'm here, it's to labor for you for their sake. That's it. That's what we have to see. The need to remain here, to labor for him,

for their sake, for the sake of those around us, for your brothers and sisters that are sitting right here and need us to come alongside and bear them. That's what the next phrase says right there. Verse 25, he says, Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. He says, Convinced of this, verse 25, I know that I will remain and will continue. That word continue in

the Greek is a word that means to remain alongside, to help. Personally with Paul, it was his presence. With them to instruct them. It has the idea of the paracletos again, the spirit of God coming alongside of us to help. But through us, he does that. And Paul sees his need now is for them that he might come alongside with them, walk with them through their trials, through their troubles,

help bear them up and instruct them to take them through these difficult times that are ahead of them, that he knows are ahead. I will continue with you all, verse 25, the end of it, for your progress. And joy in the faith. Then in verse 26, so that through my being with you again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow. The first one there, he says, for your progress and joy in the faith. Now this

little church in Philippi evidently had problems in the area of rejoicing in the Lord. We're studying this and this is called the epistle of joy because 18 times in it, the word joy or rejoice is mentioned. And so it's easy to look at this church. Philippians say, well, they must've had it all together. They knew how to rejoice in the Lord. But as we go through this, we find that they had a problem with it. And I think it's a general

problem in Christendom, learning to rejoice in the Lord. And he says, so this is, I'm going to continue. I'm going to be there to come alongside for your progress and joy in the faith. And there's a definite article there in the Greek, the faith. That means the entire body of faith. That means the word of God so that you can joy in the word of God. Learn to rejoice in Christ through understanding the word of God. You see,

they were plagued with circumstantial Christianity too. Things are going great. They're great. Things are going bad. They're not doing too good. Up and down and up and down. And he says, I'm to continue with you. And since I'm alive, I'm a laborer for Christ. I'm going to continue. I'm going to come alongside you so that your joy in the faith might progress, might grow so that

you can understand what God's doing, understand his word. And in that rejoice, that's what we do. This is why we study the word of God is so that we can see how he works, how he's worked in Paul's life and John's life and James, that we can see that that's what he wants to do in us. They needed further instruction in the word of God in order to be able to grow in joy in the faith. That was

Paul's calling to them. Listen, that's what I see as my calling to this church here in Arkansas City. That's why I'm still alive. That's why I'm still breathing is to come alongside and instruct in the word of God. Instruct so that you can progress in your joy in the faith so that you can rejoice in Christ and what he's doing in your life so you can understand that he is working. And you see, that's what we're

called to do is to go and share that testimony of the grace of God with others, the ones we're around so that we can encourage them so that they can progress in their joy and the faith. That's why we're here. And for us to say, Lord, whatever's necessary with my life, do it. You need to understand then why you're here. You need to understand that there's a need

for you to remain. There's a need for you to be here. You're a laborer for Christ, telling others the testimony of the gospel of the grace of God. Let's stand together.