So good morning, everybody. I didn't get to say that earlier. Happy Father's Day to the fathers in the room. Um, this is not specifically a Father's Day sermon this morning. There's no Proverbs 31 manly wisdom or what- whatever, uh, sermon on deck. But it is about serving, and the reality is to be a father is a call to serve.
Serve family first and foremost because it is our first ministry. And so as we talk this morning about looking to the ultimate example of humble servanthood, I hope that there is overlay here for the dads in the room of what this means for you in the context of your family, 'cause it's an important job. It's not a paid vocation, but it is a necessary position. Do not forsake it. And even if your kids are no longer at home, you still have room to have influence, discipleship opportunity to serve your family in that.
It does not end. My mom, a number of years ago, in talking about the, the progression of parenting, she said, "Chad, like, parenting is just a lifetime of letting go. It never ends." And it's very profound. It stuck with me, and the, the reality is, uh, that is true. I have found that to be the case. And so this morning we come to the topic, as Anthony already shared in some ways, that we should just, like, ta- have him come back up here, do the call to worship, and that will be the sermon for this morning.
Um, it was well said and succinct. I'll take a few more minutes than that. But this morning we come to the theme of serving. It's in the context of our summer series. Uh, the acronym is up here, PASCO, but that's fitting because that's where we live, of course. But the, the summer series is on expectations of church membership, right? So w- certainly here at Sunrise, but the reality is these ex- expectations should be expectations of Christians. We've just tried to put these down on paper to say if they are true of Christians, then they should be true of Christians that are part of the Sunrise family, and it would be good for us to review these things.
Here's the risk. We said it a couple weeks ago. We'll say it again today. These are all familiar themes, right? Should Christians pray? Yes. Should Christians be part of a church? Yes. Should Christians serve? Yes. And on down the list. And so there, there can be this risk to kinda tune out and go, "Yeah, we know this. It's familiar." But I would, I would challenge you this morning to be reminded that there's lots of people in their vocational work that do continuing education so that they can craft and hone their skills so that they are ready when they are needed.
We know this in the athletic world. Athletes more, spend more time in practicing and in training than they do in actually gameplay because they want to be ready. And so it is for us here. It is good for us to recite and be reminded and, and hone and craft and come to a clear and better understanding of what we are called to be as followers of Christ so that we are ready, so that we are ready for the every day, and that no matter where God puts us, no matter, no matter where He takes us, He can use us in those places because we're ready.
And so this morning we talk about serving. Quick note, if you don't like this morning's sermon and you're new here, I'm not usually up here. So come back and try it again another week. My name is Chad. For, for those that don't know me, I'm one of the elders. I've had the opportunity to serve here as an elder at Sunrise since about 1846. Um, someplace in there. I am the OG. I was part of Sunrise before Sunrise was Sunrise. But I'm thankful to be able to bring God's Word to us this morning. So this morning, as we think about serving, we're going to g- look at the text Philippians 2. Philippians 2:1-11. Really hoped I could do this without using my glasses, but it looks like I'm gonna need them.
Philippians 2:1-11. It's helpful context to know that the book or the letter to- To the church in Philippi is a letter to a church that's doing well. It's not a letter of correction. It's not a letter even to brand, brand new believers, although they are newer in their faith because this is new in the institution of the church. But this is a church that's doing well. We know that because at the very beginning of the letter, Paul points to their partnership in the gospel. In, a little bit later in chapter two, beyond our text, he says, uh, "You have always obeyed." And at the end of the letter, again, he's gonna point to how they have helped him and supported him in his ministry when nobody else would.
And so this is a, a church that is doing well. This is a church that is serving well, yet there is here in chapter two an encouragement them, to them to not only continue, but to grow in that. And so the same call is for us today. Many of you in here have known Jesus for a long time. Maybe for others this is newer. For others you're just trying to figure out who Jesus is. But this is a call to grow in this and to, to for lack of a better term, be better. Not in human effort, but in godly aspiration. And so let's read the totality of Philippians 2:1 through 11 and then we're gonna break it up into chunks and see what it has for us this morning. Philippians two says this, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
This is our text for this morning. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we have your Word before us. And as we study the incarnate Word, the life of Jesus, and when we consider the call that Paul sent to the church in Philippi, it is a call that is drawn forward for us here today at Sunrise. Lord, you know the doubts that I have this morning, and the right things to say. Lord, would you speak. Lord, would your Word speak clear and true. Would your, your truths be on display. May you be glorified in these moments, and may our lives be centered in serving you to your glory.
We pray all these things and so much more in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So in looking at this text, we're gonna break it up into four pieces. The first couple verses are the, Paul's desire for the church. This next two verses, verses three and four, are gonna be the direction or the directives or the instructions that he is giving to the church. Those are instructions for us. Then the next three verses, verses five through eight, we will look at our demonstration of this. And then finally the exaltation. Ah, the ultimate highlight of Christ. And so as we come to this, there's a lot here, and there's a lot of things that we could say, and there's a lot of other texts that we could go to to look at Jesus as example of servant or hear the message that he communicated, but we're gonna land here this morning.
And there's many things here that we could pull apart. The best we can we're going to keep it focused on the theme of service. And so Paul's desire written to the church pulled forward our des- the desire for us here today starts this way. It says, "So," like we know anytime so, since, therefore is at the beginning of a passage we should consider what came before it, right? So in verse one, or excuse me, chapter one verse 27- He makes this statement, he says, "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ." Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
So if we are to live out a life that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, what does that look like? Paul's that forward. So if there's any encouragement, that if there, is not an if of doubt. He's not questioning whether or not they are encouraged by Christ or if they are comforted by love or any of these things. He's not questioning that, but rather this is one of those rhetorical reasoning statements. Maybe you do this at a time, I know I do, where you say, "Well, if this is true, then this must be true as well." And it's not so much about the first statement, it's more we're trying to make a claim to the second statement, but we position that as an if then.
Maybe it would be better to say because this is true, then this, or since this is true, then this. And this is the, the statement that Paul is making here. Because you have an encouragement in Christ, because you are comforted by love, because you have participation or fellowship in the Spirit, because of affection and sympathy, then complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. These are all different ways of saying unity. Be in unity. Have the same heart. Have the same mind. Different people, different talents, different gifts, different abilities, different backgrounds, different stages of life, different status in life.
But be unified in heart and mind. And that is our call here too as a church as we look at this. This is for us here. We all come from different directions, different places, different tenures in the faith, all these different things, right? But we are to be unified, centered in the gospel in one heart and one mind. And so he goes on to say, what is this one heart and what i- what is this one mind? What is this that then helps us live out a manner of life that's worthy of the gospel of Christ? It is do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the other interests of others.
In some ways, this is a different way of saying love your neighbor. But it's more than that. It's more than just loving your neighbor. It's how do we love our neighbor? How do we love the people that are in proximity to them? We are called to consider them as higher than us. We are k- called to consider their interests. We all know this wrestle, right? This is hard. Like, let's be honest. It's really hard to think of others more than we think of ourselves. It's really hard to consider other people's challenges, needs, wants, wishes, interests, when we have a hard enough time keeping up with our own to-do list. I feel like in everyday life, three things get added and one thing get-- drops off.
And the next day, "Oh, I'll get to it the next day," and then there's three more get added and one drops off. And now I have six things added, two things dropped off. I think the math says that there's four left that I haven't gotten to. When do I ever catch up? How do I have time for the interests of others? This is a wrestle, but it is a wrestle that we are called to, and there is a requirement to humility, and as we work through this, I think we will better see the heart posture, a favorite term of ours in our small group.
It comes up every single week multiple times because that's what it comes back to. It requires a heart posture that is centered in humility, and where is that humility focused? We're gonna walk through that in a moment. But I do wanna point this out. I do wanna point this out in that this is in line with other texts, especially in Paul's letters, where there's a, a put off, put on. Old self, new self, right? You know what selfishness and conceit are. You know what pride is. You know what vain glory is. You know what emptiness that is. So put that off and in Christ, put this on. It is a call to humility. And also, the other thing to note here is this, that in that second sentence or that second verse, verse four, hear this.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. And so here's the key. I think one of the mistakes that we often make and w- as we consider the call to serve and s- Sacrifice is there's this trajectory or this tendency or this assumption that that means then that I have to neglect all that I'm responsible for, and that a real Christian gives no effort to what's in front of me. It's only about what are, uh, others' needs, right? And, and while we need to be focused there, God does also call us to steward well those things that He's given us responsibility for. That's time, that's gifts, that's abilities, talents, opportunities, vocation, fill in the blank, money, relationships, all those different things.
We're to steward those things well. We are responsible for those things first, but we are not responsible for th- those things only. And so the call is to consider the interests of others, but not to the neglect of what God has called you to be responsible that's right in front of you. And so there has to be that balance. There is a tug-of-war there, but it's not one or the other only. It is both and. So we move on. So let's look then at the demonstration of this. So Paul then say- says at the beginning of verse five, "Have this mind among yourselves." So it's, it's kind of a, a restatement of the objective here.
Don't forget, there's a call to unity of mind and heart here, and this mind and heart is yours in Christ Jesus. And there are two ways that we can understand this. It is, it is ours in Christ Jesus in that the only way that we can truly be humble, the only way that we can truly consider others higher or better than ourselves, the only way that we can be truly concerned about others' interests is by a changed heart and a renewed mind. That only happens through Jesus Christ. For the, the sinner that has been saved and rescued and renewed and redeemed, and is working each and every day being sanctified in their likeness of Christ, that one day will be perfected in glory.
So we can understand it that way, but then we can also understand it this way, and it's not this or that, but it's both, again, and. Both are right in that many of you probably have a footnote in the really, really itty-bitty font that you really need super readers to get to when you're my age. Um, I need almost, like, two pairs of readers for this. It says, "You can also understand this as instead of which is yours in Christ Jesus, but rather which was also in Christ Jesus." And so this heart and this mind that Paul is cur- calling the church to in Philippi, this heart and mind that we here at Sunrise are being called to, is the same heart and mind that was in Christ Jesus.
And so as we'll walk through this, we'll come to better understand what that is. But that probably lines up well because in this letter, this is the first time, but then Paul does go on to use not only Jesus as example, but he also uses himself, he uses Timothy, he uses Epaphroditus as examples of how to live out different parts of the faith. And so it probably lines up well that maybe the footnote is, I won't say the better translation, but is a certainly a helpful translation in the context of this, this passage. And so we are to be like-minded and like-hearted with one another because we are to do th- that with Christ.
So let's look at the example, the demonstration of Jesus Christ, "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped." I think it's important to just pause right n- here and, and point out to two things, maybe an overarching thing first. One, there's a lot here that has been debated for all the generations before us, and many of these things will be debated after us. The goal this morning is not to come to some council-like conclusion, but rather we'll land on what I think is a centered, uh, understanding here and what is a consistent understanding with the doctrines and beliefs of Sunrise Community Church that we hold to as members together here.
But don't miss the forest for the trees. I will point to a couple things here that are helpful for us to understand. For example, here, the form of God. Let's be very clear what we understand this to mean. This is not saying that Jesus had put on a costume and looked like God. This was not Him trying to, to mirror God. But this is His essence, His very being. He was God. In His form, He was God. We know this also- From John one, right? Very familiar passage. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, right? The Word being Jesus. And so here we're reminded that prior to his, uh, condescending into creation, he was God.
So, but he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, and I think this often trips us up a little bit. Self, self, um, uh, claiming here. For many years, I misunderstood this verse to be something of Father, Son lesser than the Father, and therefore, like, because He was the Son, He couldn't quite reach up and grasp being God. Misunderstanding, wrong interpretation. But rather how we are to read this and see this here is that He did not consider or count equality with God something to be grasped, something to be held onto, something to be clung to tightly.
One additional, uh, translation says it's this, it, it was not a thing to be held onto for advantage, but rather He opened up his hand and He let go. Let go of status, let go of placement, let go of reign and rule in the glory, and stepped down. He emptied himself by taking the form, notice the same word here, form, so became in essence in his being a servant in the likeness of men. Now, here's something really important that we need to point out here. When we say emptied, what we are not saying is that He emptied himself of his divinity. So as He, He condescends, He steps in, Emmanuel, God with us, God with us. He steps into broken creation as Jesus Christ, the baby, passed through a birth canal just like you and I did.
Kind of crazy to think about, right? Didn't just pop up and show up in the manger. He was born as a human being, but He did not lose his divinity. He emptied himself of his status, of his position. He comes down into creation, but He is still fully God while He is fully man, and He is still that today. As He returns to glory, He does not give up his full manness, if you will, his full humanness. He's fully God, fully man in reign and rule today. It's important for us to be clear on that, what emptying we are talking about.
It is a lowering of position, a lowering of status, a stepping into the brokenness that He chose to do to bring about redemption, and being in that likeness of men and being found in human form, He humbled himself. He humbled himself, but He didn't just humble himself and say, "Well," and this is very, uh, I wanna be careful here. I don't want to, like, be crass about things that are holy, but it wasn't God just going, "Well, I'm gonna kinda step into creation for a while. I'm gonna fix some things, and I'll be back." It was not only stepping into creation to fix some things, but it was stepping into creation to be subjective to all the brokenness that is, without sinning while He was here, being subjected to all the hurt, sorrows, sadness that exists here in the broken world, and then also being subject to the ultimate penalty of sin that is death, although He did not deserve to die because He did not sin.
And it wasn't just death. I think sometimes it becomes so familiar that we miss the reality of what He subjected himself to. There was a cost that is incalcul-cal-cal-ca-calculable. Easy for me to say, right? There was a physical cost, and there was a cosmic wrath cost. We know both, but be reminded of Isaiah 52. Isaiah 53 sometimes gets a little bit more of the highlight. It's a little bit more full, but Isa- Isaiah 52 says this, God speaking through the Prophet Isaiah says, "Behold, my servant,"
Jesus Christ, "shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were as- astonished-- As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form Beyond that of a children, of the children of mankind. So the physical death that he took on, that he lowered himself to accept and bear, was one that is unthinkable. And that paled in comparison to the cosmic totality that he took on, the bearing of the sin and the weight of the world.
The weight of sin for the world. Excuse me, let me say that the right way. He humbles himself to this end, and here's the gospel, right? It's right here on display. We sang about it in different ways this morning. We've prayed the, about it, prayed these words. We're reading this here. This is the gospel. This is the good news. It is in this death that ultimately the penalty for your sins, my sins, was paid. This feels very Sunday School-ish, again, to be reminded of these things. But we need to remember these things. The cost of servitude that Jesus paid that we might be redeemed. How great new- of, of, a, a proclamation of news is that. That is the gospel. And in his resurrection, although it's not stated here, obviously it's implied because it talks about him being exalted in just a moment in the next verses.
In his resurrection, death is conquered, and even though we experience death in human form, death in spiritual form does no long, it no longer exists. And, and so we, we rise to glory with Christ. This is the good news of the gospel and so much more. But let's, let's continue through our passage here. Let me make one point as I look back at my notes here that I forgot to mention. We see cost and sacrifice of servanthood. Also understand that servant, serving, being a servant requires proximity. Christ steps into creation to rescue and save it, to be proximate in it. He could have in some cosmic way rescued creation from heaven, yet he stepped in in servanthood, in proximity to creation, and rescued it from there.
And so we also see here then a principle of serving is you, it's really hard to serve if you're not proximate with one another. And so I didn't wanna miss that here as we move forward in the text. So the last part is the exaltation of Christ. Verses nine through 11 say this: "Therefore, God has highly exalted him." So therefore, because of all of this, "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." And so we see here and are reminded of so many other places like we see in scripture that the upside down economics of the Kingdom of God are very different than what we are wired in our broken s- sin-laden world to understand.
And that is self goes down, that exaltation to the glory of God the Father might happen. We, we said in other verses here this morning, Jesus talks about, um, the first shall be last, the last shall be first. That's not just a trick on the playground to get people to give up being first in line. Those are actually, like, human requirements for those that are followers of Jesus. The first shall be last, the last shall be first. Christ in glory condescends subject to ultimate death, death on a cross, worst human form of death possible, and in it takes on the totality of the cosmic weight of wrath, and then is exalted because of it.
And so we see something here. And while we are not called to save and rescue the world in a savior form, we are called in serving to lower ourselves, and not in a way that we do that- For the prize per se, but yet there is a promise that there is an exaltation, there is a prize for those that follow Jesus well and c- commit themselves to serving one another and the needs of others. And so that's what we are called to follow in this example. But here's the thing that I want to point out, or I, I guess I want to ask and consider here together this morning. Because we can come away from this text and we can say, "Okay, I want to serve because I have been served,"
or, "Because I have been saved, therefore I will serve." It's, it's of the same mindset as, "I have been forgiven, therefore I will forgive," right? And that is, that is right, and that is good. But I think there's a piece here that's important for us to understand. Again, it's not more than, it's not, uh, less than, but rather it's part of another side of the same coin of serving and our, our mandate to do it. And it's this. Who, because serving can be used in both directions, I'll ask it this way first, maybe clarify.
Who did Jesus come to serve? I heard a God. Did I hear a man too? Yeah. It's kind of both, but let me maybe ask the question this way. Instead of serve, because this word serve can be translated as bond servant or in some places translated as slave. Who was Jesus a slave to in coming and stepping into creation? The Heavenly Father, right? So when it says here in verse, what verse is that? Verse 8. Excuse me, I gotta keep putting the glasses on and off. That He obeyed, that He was obedient to the point of death. Who did He obey? The Heavenly Father. And we see that at the end of this text, right? Who was all of this for? The glory of God the Father.
And so when we consider what it means to serve, serving is not just following Jesus' example, although that is right and that is good. It's not just serving because we've been served and therefore are saved. That is good and that is right. But we are called to serve because we are following our brother in the faith. We are joint heirs with Christ. As children of the King, we serve for His glory. We serve to be used as His vessel. We serve as worship to Him, not because it makes us feel better, but it points the world to Him and points each other as we serve one another. And so this other side of the coin is, yes, we serve because we've been saved.
We serve because of the example of Jesus, but the example of Jesus points us to the Father. We know through the whole Gospel of John over and over and over again, he states that everything He came to do He did because the Father told Him to do it. Everything He said and everything He taught, He's taught because the Father told Him to teach it. Even when, uh, the-- James and John were bickering and, and asking if they could sit at His right hand in glory, He ends that with saying, "It's not up for me to decide.
It's up to the Father to decide. It's not for me." And of course, then in the garden, what does He say? "Not my will, but Your will be done." And so I think if we understand r- that serving is more than just a response to salvation, but rather it is a worshipful response and a heart posture that is pointed to understanding that God's glory is the ultimate objective here, then our serving and the heart and the mind that's pointed in that direction looks a little bit different. It's less about my response and my effort in responding well, although necessary, and I'm not discounting that. It is a response that's pointed better in, in, in the right trajectory. And we see that even then, although not part of the text that we read this morning, as Paul moves on from this section.
In verse 13, he says this very thing. He says, "For it is God who works in you." And why does He work in you? "Both to will and to work for His-" Your good pleasure? No, for His good pleasure. So to be used by the Heavenly Father, to live out a life that is worthy of the manner... I got that. Manner of life worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Man, these glasses are a pain. I'm gonna get there. I'm right at that age. Getting used to it, sorry. Um, to live that out well means to allow, if we can use that term, make room for the Father to work through us, that we would just be the vessel. There was a book written a long time ago. It was given-- A copy was recommended to me, um, multiple years ago by a client and friend, a pastor up in Ohio, and the book was, is called Humility.
It's by Andrew Murray. Uh, it's more of a pamphlet than it is a book, and it's a number of short, little devotionals and thoughts that he has on humility. But he says this in the preface, and we'll move towards wrapping up shortly after this, that I think helps put words to what I'm trying to articulate here this morning. He says this: "Nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing," that is humility, "that God may be all." He builds it out this way, and this is a little, a few sentences here, but bear with me 'cause I think this is helpful.
He says, "We shall see that Je- just as Jesus found His glory in taking the form of a servant, so when He said to us, 'Whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant,' He simply taught us the blessed truth that there is nothing so divine and heavenly as being the servant and helper of all. The faithful servant who recognizes his position finds a real pleasure in supplying the wants of the master or his guests. When we see that humility is something infinitely deeper than contrition and accept it as our participation in the life of Jesus, we shall begin to learn that it is our true nobility, and that to prove it in being servants of all is the highest fulfillment of our destiny as men and women created in the image of God." That is what we are called to.
So what does that mean for us then here at Sunrise? It's not anything unique. There's nothing different about Sunrise than the church in Philippi or the d- or Cornerstone or others. Those that follow Jesus are called to the same thing, and in our context of our theme, we're called to lots of different things that as we live this faith out, but we are called to serve. But the question this morning isn't so much do you serve? The question is, do you desire to be used by the Lord to will and to work for His good pleasure? And if that is our desire, then that will lead us to serving others.
That may be serving here in the context of Sunrise. Folks, there are more needs represented in this room right now than you would or we would be able to count. I catch glimpses of those things as be- serving as an elder here at Sunrise, and I know bits and pieces of those things. For as good as we looked when we walked in the door this morning, the reality is most of us are not okay. But we don't like to show that. And so there are a lot of needs right here in this room where we can walk alongside one another, we can encourage one another, because we are in proximity with one another.
And so don't forsake the reality that may, maybe the need that you are meant to help is right here. But also, we are called to, to minister and meet the needs of those that are around us that are outside of here, right? It is not exclusive to the family of Sunrise. It's not exclusive to the family of Christ. Paul says that later to the, the church in Philippi there. He talks about them being lights in the world. Well, you can't be lights in the world if you're not out there serving and working in the world.
And so we are called to do, do those both, but here's the truth, and don't forget. There will be a cost. We can't count it as serving if there's not cost or sacrifice. The reality is to serve is to mean, is means that we're allocating some element of our resource to someone else that we could be using for ourselves. So there is a sacrifice there. And it's impos- able to do it without being proximate. But again, the question is not are you service-minded, but rather are you servant-minded or servant-hearted to the master?
Maybe said another way, do you have a slave mindset and a slave heart that desires to serve the master well? Those are hard-- That's a hard word, and I understand why we don't use it as much. I can assure you in my family that word has taken on a different context, and so I don't use it flippantly. But I think it gives gravity to what we have been called to do. What does that look like here in the church and in the world? Man, I, I would love if Paul just spells out, you know, "Here's five examples.
Just do this, this, this, and this, and then you can check the box for serving." Obviously, it doesn't, and the reality is it's not the-- many times scripture is not a recipe book in the sense of just follow these five steps, and you'll meet the requirements, and you'll come out with a nicely baked heart of service. But rather it is free form because each moment and each circumstance and each opportunity in life is going to look a little bit different. So sometimes it's going to be praying with one another. Sometimes it's going to be getting down on our knees and getting dirty with or for one, uh, someone else.
Sometimes it's going to mean just sitting and listening. Sometimes it means that fill in the blank. I can't tell you exactly what it's going to look like. But I know what the heart posture is, and I know what the mind posture is, and it is one that desires to be used by the Heavenly Father for His good pleasure, not our own. It's not about us ma- feeling better about ourselves. It's about us being used by Him for His glory, and in that, He will use us for things that are really good for us. The last thing I'm gonna say here is this, and then we'll, we'll wrap up.
Our time is done for this morning. Maybe I've even been longer. You'll be glad when I don't preach again because- ... Adam and Andrew are shorter than I am. In the context of our life together as a church, I think one of the biggest things that stands in the way of us being able to serve is our inability to allow others to serve us. And so I just wanna point that out. We cannot serve one another in need if we, one, we don't know what the needs are, or we don't let others help. A guilty example number one, man, I, I prefer very much to be confident I can do it all myself.
I don't need your help because if you help me, then I have to admit that I can't do it and that I needed your help, which is so silly, isn't it? I mean, it is the other side of the humility coin. We have to lower ourselves to be willing to help others, but we have to lower ourselves to be willing to let others help us. And so if there's an element in this room as we exist as a family, as a church, desiring to live this out and serve, then did you ever think about... This occurred to me this week. If we don't allow others to serve us when there's a genuine need, I'm not saying make up drama just to try to attract attention, but a genuine need, when we don't allow others to help, we are actually standing in the way of what God is intending to do.
I might even say we're, we're sinning because we are going against what God has commanded here. We're letting our pride stand in the way. That's hard to say because it's hard for me to say that because I need to hear that, and I know we can't always have help for every single thing, and there are going to be hard moments. But at the same time, if we don't allow others to help, then we're not allowing others to be used by the Heavenly Father in the ways that He has promised He will. And so to that end, let's pray that we would, uh, be... Man, I don't like to call it better, but that God would work in us to grow us more like Jesus in both of these ways. So let's pray here as we finish up.
