The Life Everyone Wants (But Few Actually Have)

And the world tells us this, you gotta protect your life, you gotta protect your comfort, you gotta protect your time. But Paul is saying, even if I lose my life, I'm gonna be joyful. And that's a different level of joy and purpose. That is an an intense extreme level of joy and purpose. And Jesus teaches that, man, those of us who cling on to our life so tightly, we don't get to share and live in the joy and the purpose that extends beyond our circumstances or comfort. And so Paul is saying, no matter what happens, I'm gonna live a life that's full of joy because I lived a life full of purpose. That's exactly what Paul is saying here. And so if that's the life that we all wanna live, [00:16:20] (43 seconds)  #JoyBeyondComfort

So maybe you're here and you're just like trying harder all the time. You found yourself at this place where you're just trying harder, and you're trying harder, and you're trying under your own strength. Can I just remind you, God is giving you what you need through him? And it's only then when we allow our heart to be shaped by God, we allow our desires to be changed by God, we allow him to simply work in us so we can work it out. It's in those moments we say, God, you put this inside of me like gold in a gold mine, so I'm going to work it out by being obedient. God, I'm gonna stop saying, remind me later. God, I'm gonna stop saying, I'll do it again another day. [00:36:52] (45 seconds)  #StopSnoozingGod

You work hard in the gym, then you get the body you want. You work hard in the in the kitchen, then you get to see the abs that you want. That's what they say. I'm still waiting on those moments. I think a lot of us are. But that's what the world says. You work hard, and then you receive. And our culture is really about that same equation. Work first, receive later. But the gospel, when it comes to salvation, completely flips that upside down. Everything changes because in the gospel, salvation is a gift of grace. [00:18:05] (32 seconds)  #GraceNotMerit

We know that it's the life that we want. We understand that it's something that we need to work out or dig up like gold miners, but what does it practically look like? Well, there's a couple of points that I wanna bring to us here, and it's the other one is found in verse 12 again. It says, obey God with deep reverence and fear. The first practical way to work out your salvation is through obedience. Obey God with deep reverence and fear. Do what God has already asked us to do. [00:20:02] (33 seconds)  #ObedienceIsPractice

And so many times, we treat God the same way. I mean, God is saying, I've got something for you. I've got a practice for you that's gonna make your life better. I need you to listen to me here. This is the God of the universe, and he's saying, hey, need you to forgive this person. Hey, I need you to serve here. I need I need you to I need you to break that habit in your life. And we say, God, just just remind me later. Remind me tomorrow, God. [00:21:34] (25 seconds)  #DontDelayObedience

Later in verse 16, he says this, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. Right? So he's he's indicating that his work and that his life had a purpose behind it. That it was a there was a purpose, that there was a passion. And in verse 17 and verse 18, he goes into re joicing, and he wants us to share that joy, and that he's living a joyful life. And so again, just to bring some context to it, Paul is writing this from prison. [00:15:07] (29 seconds)  #PurposeInSuffering

You know what? It drives me a little nuts, but there's something to that, and I wanna live a life like that. How do I live a life like that? You know, one of the people who lived exactly like that in the Bible is the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul was actually the person who wrote the book of Philippians, and you talk about a guy who went through some difficult things. I mean, this guy went through hardship after hardship after hardship, but he maintained this life of joy and happiness and peace. And what we've found out, you know, earlier in the series, but if you're just joining us here for the first time in the series, he actually wrote this book Philippians from prison. [00:12:27] (38 seconds)  #PaulsJoyInSuffering

Do everything without complaining. So the second thing, if we're wanting to work out the results of our salvation, has to deal with our attitude. It has to deal with our attitude because technically, you can do the right thing and have the wrong attitude. You absolutely can. And I think it's if we're honest with ourselves, it's something that we've all seen before. It's something that we've all done before. It's something that we've all lived out before. And I I wanna just take you to this place where you've probably seen that happen in your life. [00:24:02] (32 seconds)  #DoItWithoutComplaints