Philippians 1:21-26 - Pursuing Jesus By Serving His People

Main Idea: A life lived for Jesus will be marked by service for others.

1. SERVE OTHERS WITH YOUR PRESENCE (vs. 21-24)

a. Jesus ministers through your presence.

b. Your presence can make a difference.

c. Your presence is indispensable.

2. SERVE OTHERS WITH YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT (v. 25)

a. Encourage others to grow in their faith.

b. Encourage others from your faith.

3. SERVE OTHERS WITH YOUR TESTIMONY (v. 26)

a. Your testimony defeats loneliness.

b. Your testimony defeats discouragement.

c. Your testimony lifts up Jesus.

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

We will do it as we continue our series in Philippians. One pursuit and pursuing Jesus in everything that we do and every area of our life.

And just as a recap, this letter, the letter to the Philippians, was written by the Apostle Paul from a jail cell. He wasn't someplace cushy. He wasn't even necessarily at some other church.

He was like, oh, I've got a little free time on my hands. I think I'll just write him a letter just because, no, no, he was in prison.

The Philippians had heard that he was in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel, not for any big crimes or anything. And so they sent a gift to him with one of the people from their church, Epaphroditus.

And Epaphroditus kind of gave Paul a little bit of what was happening in Philippi. Philippi was the first church that Paul planted on the European continent, and it had a very special place in his heart. He was beaten there.

He was beaten in several cities. As he went around preaching the gospel, people, especially during the first century, and to this day, many people don't like the message of Christianity.

And in these times, it was a direct affront to the authority of Rome, which governed the world at that time. And Philippi in particular was a very patriotic city. There were many former soldiers that were in Philippi.

And so there was a large reverence for the empire of Rome. And so when Paul comes along and says, hey, there's another king, there is a king that is far above all others. There is one to whom we owe allegiance.

It really went against the grain. So Paul is writing back to the Philippians, thanking them for this gift. And he starts off the letter.

We heard about it two weeks ago where he says, I thank the Lord for you all. He'll address some problems that are in the church in later chapters. But he starts off by saying, I know you guys aren't perfect.

I'm gonna deal with some of the imperfections later. But he says, I love you. I'm praying for you.

I am thanking God. And I know that God is going to continue and finish the work that he started in you. Then last week, we heard about what Paul was doing.

He wasn't just biding his time in prison. He wasn't just, I'm sure many of you have seen the cartoons where you just mark a little notch on the wall of your cell and go, okay, been in here 300 days, pretty boring.

He says, no, no, I have used my time that I've been imprisoned to tell the gospel to everyone in the Imperial Guard and everyone else that I could. And he says, God is doing incredible things.

He says, some people, because I'm in prison or even more bold to speak about Jesus, they say Paul can still witness to others, even while he's in prison, that I can do it while I'm free.

He says, there's even some people that are trying to run up the score on me and be like, oh, I've got 300 people saved and Paul's stuck at 200 because he's in prison.

He says, whether through false reasons or true, Christ is preached and I am happy about it. I am rejoicing because all that mattered to Paul was Jesus being lifted up.

And today, we're gonna be in verses 21 through 26, and we're gonna be seeing the theme of pursuing Jesus by serving his people. Paul let the Philippians know that he loved him. He is accomplishing the mission that God has for him.

But Paul goes further inward in these next verses. He goes further inward than just what he was doing but how he feels in his current circumstances. We saw last week how he was doing some meditating, some thinking on the Book of Job and his trials.

And we'll see today that his thoughts often turned towards heaven as well. However, Paul had something specific that was driving his emotions more than a desire for heaven, away from the struggles that he was facing in this world.

Paul was driven by a deep passion for wanting to spend his life, helping others to know and worship God.

While he loved the thought of being with his Savior, there was something greater than streets of gold, more valuable than the visible presence of God Almighty. And that more valuable thing to Paul was serving people.

He says this in verse number 21, the verse that Roger started off with this morning. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And I want us to see from these verses this morning that a life lived for Jesus will be marked by service for others.

A life lived for Jesus will be marked by service for others. Let's take a moment, pray, ask God to speak to our hearts this morning and we'll dive into the passage. Dear God, we pray today that you would continue to be glorified in your church.

God, as we hear from your word, we pray that you would not allow it to fall on deaf ears, that we wouldn't be like those in James 1, that see the mirror of your word and walk away exactly the same, but that we would linger, that we would continue to

look at what you have for us. And God, that your Holy Spirit would bring about the change in us to conform us to the image of Christ. We love you, God. We pray all of this in your name, amen.

The first thing I want us to see this morning is that we ought to serve others with our presence. If we're going to live a life for Jesus, if we're going to be marked by service to others, we must serve others with our presence.

And we can see this in verses 21 through 24. First, Paul notes that Jesus ministers through our presence. Jesus ministers through our presence.

Verse number 21, for me to live is Christ. He says, if I'm living, it's not actually me, it's Jesus living.

Paul was aware of this central fact, that if Jesus wanted to do something in this world, he was going to do it through his church and through his people.

We have an expectation that if any great revival were to happen or people's needs were to be met, it would just be a miraculous event where food and clothing and money would just appear on someone's doorstep or that suddenly people with no prior

connection to religion whatsoever would immediately understand their need of a savior. However, that's not how God has chosen to work. He wants to work through you, through your presence.

1 Corinthians 12 makes it clear that we are the body of Christ. If his hands are going to do anything, if his feet are going to go anywhere, if his mouth is to speak anything, it's going to be through us. This is what Paul is saying in verse 21.

If he lives on planet Earth, everything he does is going to be so that Jesus can live through him. Where Jesus would go, Paul goes. What Jesus would say, Paul says.

Jesus was the one animating Paul's words and actions. In Paul's mind, he was the willing puppet who would do what Christ wanted done. I don't know if you know this, but if you take your hand out of a puppet, the puppet doesn't do anything.

You have to have your hand in the puppet, and that's what Paul says. If I'm living, it's actually Jesus living and speaking through me. For Paul, there was no life outside of Jesus.

There was no point in living for making money or gaining prestige or even enjoying relationships if it didn't involve the living God who loved Paul and had given his life for Paul.

For him then, every opportunity that he got to talk to someone, an unbeliever or a believer, was an opportunity for Jesus to talk to that person. Doubly so because of the Holy Spirit living inside of him.

If Paul talked to a prison guard, Jesus got to tell the prison guard how much he loved him, how he died for him, how he wanted to change his whole Roman guard life and heart into something radically new and wonderful.

If Paul talked to a Philippian believer, Jesus got to tell them that he wanted their life to be overflowing with grace and peace and love and knowledge, that he was the victor over all the persecutors they would face, that they could engage any

earthly difficulty with persistent joy because of what he had done. Can I ask you this one? How do you view your conversations with people?

Do you view your talks with people, your relationships with people as, well, I kind of hope I have something to offer them. I hope I'm interesting enough to maintain this conversation or perhaps their conversation with you.

You go, well, this person is just kind of wasting my time. This person, this is just a business relationship. No, we ought to view our presence, our words, our actions as Jesus living through us.

Jesus ministers through our presence. I've heard the phrase stated many times, you might be the only Bible that some people ever read. View your conversations as an opportunity.

Oh, sorry. View your conversations with others as an opportunity for God to speak to them, for God to love them. And if you're hearing from fellow Christians, view their conversations with you as an opportunity to hear from God.

When you are conversing at church, you are not just talking person to person. The Holy Spirit of God, if the other person is a Christian, the Holy Spirit of God is living inside of them.

And while none of us are perfect, and none of us always say everything that the Holy Spirit would have us to, God works through imperfect vessels.

And you don't know what person that you're communicating with, that you're talking with, you don't know what maybe message God has for you, what truth he wants to remind you of, maybe what virtue he wants to build in you.

It might be that the Holy Spirit is using that person to help grow you in patience or in forgiveness. It might be that that person reminds you of the biblical truth that you desperately need in a time of sorrow or heartache.

But view your conversations, view your presence as Jesus living in you, and as you interact with other believers, that God might have something to speak to you. If Paul says, for me to live as Christ, then Christ lives in his people.

But not only do we see that Jesus ministers through our presence, but we can see that your presence can make a difference. Your presence can make a difference. Verses 22 and 23 of the passage.

Now, if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me. And I don't know which one I should choose. I am torn between the two.

I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Do you see what Paul says here, particularly in verse 22? He says, if I'm alive, then God's going to make what I do and say have meaning.

It's going to become fruitful work if I am living on this planet. I know many of you in this room have thought some of the same thoughts as Paul in the first part of verse 23, where he says, I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

But I'd like to encourage us to remember fruitful work if we are here. Your presence on earth is not an accident. God did not forget to grab you and leave you here with no meaning.

Truthfully, if you are a Christian, each day is a wonderful, incredible game of hide and seek where you can try to find why God has you here.

Maybe it's to witness to a loved one that's been cold to God for 40 years, but God knows with more seeds and more watering in seven years or 20 years, that person's heart is finally going to crack open.

Maybe like Jeremiah or Nehemiah, God has you here to give messages to people that need to hear, but won't listen to.

Our Savior did that very thing, so don't view that as a waste of your time when you are communicating truths that don't instantly bring about life change.

Our life on earth doesn't need to be wrapped up in accomplishments of how many things we did or items we amassed. Our life needs to be wrapped up in obedience. That is a much easier goal than results, but it's also a much harder goal.

As you bring Jesus to others, realize that his will will be accomplished. Maybe it's one sown seed, maybe it's one kind word, maybe it's an unheeded warning, but realize that your presence will make a difference.

Don't imagine that God has left you here with his Holy Spirit living inside of you to be completely ineffective, that you can't do anything for the Lord. Instead, realize if God has left you here, that means there is fruitful work ahead.

But then we can see in verse 24 that our presence is indispensable. Not only can our presence make a difference, but our presence is indispensable.

Verse 24, but to remain in the flesh, in this body, in flesh and blood, is more necessary for your sake. I love the word underlying more necessary in this verse. Thayer's Greek definition says it entails what one cannot do without, indispensable.

Paul says, as much as I want to be in the throne room of the Messiah, worshiping him, seeing all of the saints that have gone before, completely free from pain, free from prison, free from sin, he says, you all need me more than that.

You need me more than I need to be in heaven. Now, I'm sure some of you might be saying to yourselves, but that's just Paul. I'm not needed.

I'm not indispensable. An apostle, sure, they need him, but I'm not an apostle. My friend, if you are a Christian today, you are a living, walking temple of the Holy Spirit.

You are the temple of God himself. Whoever you are today, you are a special creation of God with every hair and bone and ounce of personality made by the omnipotent Lord of all creation.

You were so beloved by Christ that he endured beatings and mocking and excruciating torture and death so that he could be with you forever, so that you could be his brother or sister.

Paul was not some superhuman that he was indispensable and that you're discardable. No, no, no. If God has you here on earth, then he believes that you can do and say and pray things for others that no one else can.

So if it's true, and it is because it's God's word, that we are to serve others with our power and with our presence, that Jesus ministers through our presence, that our presence can make a difference and that your presence is indispensable, will you

commit to be with others this week? Will you commit to pray for others this week?

If your presence, you being there, who you are, your words, your actions, your prayers, if they carry meaning and weight and can be used by God to accomplish his will on this earth, will you commit to be with others this week?

We have a natural tendency to silo ourselves away from others. I can think Adam and Eve right at the very beginning, as soon as they lost their innocence, gave in to sin, what they immediately did was they hid from God.

You can see even their son Cain after he murdered his brother Abel, and after God pronounced judgment on him, he went far away from everyone else.

I can think of Moses in the book of Exodus, that after he thought that he was doing well by saving his people, by killing an Egyptian taskmaster, and he quickly realized people weren't with the program yet, he ran into the wilderness of Sinai, into

the desert for 40 years. We naturally silo ourselves, but God is continually in the habit of bringing people together, of bringing back in his family. Will you commit to being a part of that family this week? Will you commit to be with others?

Will you commit to serve others with your presence? Not only that, but I see next in verse 25 that we are called to serve others with our encouragement.

Verse 25 says this, Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith. Here in verse 25, he says, I am persuaded.

It's the same kind of word that he says in verse number 6 of the passage that we looked at a few weeks ago. I am sure, I am convinced, I am certain of this.

He says, I know that God's going to have me stay with you all for this time for your progress.

Here it's a kind of blacksmithing term where he says, I'm here to help kind of iron out some of the things to make you more refined so that God can continue to use you in ever increasing effectiveness.

And today, an application is that we ought to encourage others to grow in their faith. So Paul says, I know that I'm going to be with you all for your progress, so we ought to encourage others to grow, to progress, to be smithed in their faith.

We can encourage people in many ways. We can say, your hair really looks nice today, Daryl. We can say, hey Roy, the beard's looking good.

Well, that's an encouraging thing, but it's not really in the faith. We are biblically called to encourage our brothers and sisters in their Christian walk and life with Jesus. How could we do that?

Sometimes it's formative encouragement. It's helping to build particular good habits in our Christian walk, like teaching a toddler to eat broccoli or carrots.

Some of those good habits for a Christian might look like Bible reading or prayer or memorization, meditation, regularly assembling with the church, evangelizing the lost, fasting, or a host of other good practices.

Sometimes our encouragement to our brothers and sisters is corrective. Maybe we see that a dad is losing patience with his children and is out of control with his anger.

Maybe we see someone that is not following a biblical command of moderation and is getting blackout drunk a couple weekends a month.

Maybe we see a young brother or sister following our world in premarital sex or in adopting sexual identities outside of what God's designated in His Word.

In all of these circumstances, we are called to encourage, to edify, to build up one another in the faith.

If we never build any good habits in our children or our grandchildren for fear of making them do something they don't want to, they will have much more miserable lives without the foods, exercises, or disciplines that they need to succeed.

And if we never tell our children, no, for fear they won't like it, then they could be hurt by an oncoming car or any number of other things. The same is true spiritually.

If we never encourage our spiritual siblings to adopt good godly habits, they will be spiritually starving and weak.

If we never challenge them to repent from sin and turn back to Jesus and his way, they could, like Paul says in 2 Timothy, shipwreck their faith on the rocks of this world.

So we're called to encourage others, to grow in their faith, that blacksmithing, and sometimes that's a more fun process and sometimes it's a more serious process. But we are called to serve others with our encouragement.

It's not to benefit us in some way. It's not so that we can feel real good about our spirituality. Instead, it is to help them in their Christian walk.

If you are saying something to someone else so that you can feel superior and so that they can feel down, that's not at all what Paul is encouraging in these verses. It is, I want to build you up. I want to encourage you.

But not only are we called to encourage others to grow in their faith, we're called to encourage others from our faith. Here he says that, I know I will remain and continue with all of you for your joy in the faith.

He says, if I'm going to be back with the Philippian Church again, it's going to bring them joy. Why would it bring them joy?

Because Paul was continuing in the life and faith that he had told them about 10 plus years previous to this, that his faith was continuing, that Jesus was real and it could be seen in Paul still. Do as I say, not as I do, never works.

If we're going to encourage others in the faith, then we must be living a real faith ourselves. This is specifically what Jesus mentions in the Sermon on the Mount where he says, judge not, that you be not judged.

And he says, whatever measure that you're using to judge other people will be used on you.

And he says specifically, if you've got a beam in your eye and you're worried about someone's tiny sliver in their eye, he says, take the beam out of your eye and then you'll be able to see clearly in order to help someone else with their sliver.

It is a first introspection of God. What is it in my life that I am allowing to come between me and you? Where am I not submitting to you as Lord?

And once we do that introspective work, once we allow God to work on our hearts, then we can go forward in a heart of love that says, I know the difference that God is making in me, how he's been patient and gracious to me.

And so now I want to extend that to you as well. Paul's hope was that his faith would be real. In 1 Corinthians 9, he says, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

As you read through the New Testament epistles, the letters from apostles or their close associates, you'll discover again and again a common theme.

You are not guaranteed that simply because you know things about Christ, that you know Christ himself.

I'm certain many of us in this room this morning know people that once professed to be Christians, but today want nothing to do with Jesus or his church. From the very beginning of the church, that has been the case. Just look at Judas Iscariot.

Paul mentions in 1 and 2 Timothy several individuals like Demus, Alexander, Hymenius, Phagellus, and Hermogenes that all turned their back on Jesus and his way and abandoned ship.

One way you can encourage others is to maintain your faith in a world that's consistently trying to take it from you.

As others are told by family members, friends, television shows, coworkers, and opinion polls that belief in Jesus is out of date and restrictive, may we live lives that declare Christ is risen.

I think of the old hymn, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart.

You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.

That's one of the reasons why it is so important to assemble with the local church, that as people encounter heartache and difficulties and temptations throughout their week, and as Satan tries to get them to turn away from Jesus, they're able to

gather together with brothers and sisters in Christ, to sing corporately, blessed be your name, when everything's great and when everything is terrible, to be near others who are in the same fight and take courage for their own walk with the Lord.

Maybe I'm not feeling particularly spiritual or strong on a given day, but then I can see Dale Goins, who's followed Jesus for decades, and I can be encouraged that I don't have to give up. If God could sustain him, God can sustain me.

I can see new believers, those who have recently accepted Christ, and I can remember to have that first love and excitement and wonder at the salvation that I had in the beginning.

When we don't make a habit of regularly assembling with the church, we can't be that encouragement to others in the faith. We're not present, so we can't encourage others in that specific way.

This is why the author of Hebrews said, let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Part of Jesus living through us is that when we assemble together, we get to love and to be loved through Christ's body, the church.

If you only come to church for music and listening to preaching, you'll enjoy some benefits, but you won't truly get everything that Christ intends for you. Paul would say this, follow me as I follow Christ.

We ought to live lives that are interconnected enough with each other that we can encourage people in their walks.

If we don't know someone at all, and they come up and they say, hey, I want you to mimic the things that I'm doing, or hey, I really think you should do what I'm doing in my Bible reading. And you've never seen this person before in your life.

I don't know if I'd be like, yeah, I'm going to do everything that you do. I'm going to follow your example if I have no idea who the person is. Let us in the church not be alienated from one another.

Let's not be those that have no idea who Roger is or what his manner of life is. That comes piece by piece.

You don't instantly have to know everyone in the church, but this week, as you are committing to be with others, to allow Jesus to minister through your presence, as you allow Jesus and others to minister to you, know each other.

Get to know one another. Have someone over for a meal, because you are not meant to do this life alone. You're not meant to do the Christian life by yourself.

It's meant to be lived in community. It's meant to be lived where you know other struggles.

They know yours, that you're praying together, that you're encouraging one another in the good things and encouraging to stay away from this world and its temptations. We ought to live lives that are an encouragement to others.

So we serve others with our presence in verses 21-24. We serve others with our encouragement in verse 25. Will you encourage others to grow closer to Jesus this week?

Then lastly this morning, we serve others with our testimony. This in verse 26. He says, So that because of my coming to you again, your boasting, your pride, your confidence in Christ Jesus may abound or overflow.

Here he says that because I am showing up, your confidence in Christ will increase. Why would that be? Because when Paul talks, he talks about Jesus.

He talks about what God has done in his life. And so their confidence in God goes up because they say he has been there for Paul. His testimony is that I can trust in the Lord.

I see first that our testimony defeats loneliness. Our testimony defeats loneliness. He says, Because of my coming to you.

And I can think of several times in Scripture where a person was desperately alone and a realization of others' testimonies brought them encouragement.

I think of Elijah, who we know he prayed down fire from heaven that he defeated the prophets of Baal, that he had been on the run for three years after God had brought a famine onto the land of Israel to judge them for their idolatry, to call them

back to the Lord. And Elijah spearheaded so much of that. And after his incredible miracle that happened with the fire coming, and it was clear that Yahweh was God, he got scared of Queen Jezebel.

He got scared of the threats on his life from the government. And so he ran, and he hid in the corner of a cave and just told God, God, you should just have the mountain fall down on me. I'm done.

And God told him, hey, Elijah, there's 500 prophets that have never bent the knee to the false gods, that have been faithful to me every step of the way. You're not alone. You are one of many.

And then God says, okay, and now I've got a new protege for you to work on. He says, you're not alone.

And if you're feeling alone, go encourage someone else in their faith, go bring up someone new, go evangelize someone new, find a new Christian, maybe one that was recently baptized or recently joined the church, and encourage them in their walk with

the Lord. Your testimony defeats loneliness. Knowing that there are other people fighting sins and struggles and yet clinging to God, it helps us realize it's not a me versus the world. It's all of us against one enemy, and we've got God.

What an encouragement that is, that your testimony can defeat loneliness in others' lives. I'd encourage us with this fact that your testimony doesn't have to be, I am a perfect person. I have always been a perfect person.

Or ever since I accepted Christ, I have been sinless. That is not the testimony of a single person in scripture outside of Jesus Christ, the only perfect one. I can think several years ago, I preached a message with the maniac of Gadara.

And he was one that was demon possessed, that he was constantly cutting himself, he didn't wear clothes, he was in the mountains and the graveyards, and people would try to arrest him, to put him in chains, so that he would quit being a crazy wild

man, and he would break out of the chains with the superhuman strength from the demons. And Jesus came and he cast out the demons, and the man, the Bible says, when the townspeople came, they found him sitting, not raving and running everywhere.

They found him sitting and clothed, and in his right mind. And it says, they were afraid. Normally, if there's a demon-possessed person, that's why I'm afraid.

When there's a not-demon-possessed person, I'm kind of good with that. I look across this room, see a bunch of non-demon-possessed people, Lord willing, and I am not afraid.

But these people were so afraid because his testimony now, the testimony that then he went out and Jesus told him, I need you to preach in the Decapolis, the Ten Cities region.

All these people that knew you as Crazy Joe, I need you to tell them, now it's Saved Joe, it's Sanctified Joe, it's Christian Joe.

And what an encouragement it is when people go, okay, well, I don't have to be a perfect person in order to be forgiven by God because I know this person and they're not perfect, but I've seen that God is working through that person, that there is a

genuineness, a love for people, there is a desire to be right with God that's in them, and it's real, and it invites me into a relationship with God. Your testimony defeats loneliness and it is powerful to people that they can realize they are not

alienated because of their sins and their wrongs, but all of us have sinned and come short of God's glory. So let's give our testimony to others. Not only does our testimony defeat loneliness, it defeats discouragement.

He says you're boasting your pride, your confidence in Jesus would abound, it would overflow. I think of Revelation 12 where it says that the believers conquered Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

I can think over and over and over again in Scripture how testimony, how praise, how declaration of God's works, it knocked down Jericho, it disoriented assailing armies, it drove away demons, it shook prisons, and it invited God's demonstrations of

power. When you tell how God has worked in your life, how he has provided for you, how he has used you, it combats Satan's lies that we are hopeless, or useless, or abandoned.

When you're going through a rough time in your faith, and you hear someone else talk about God's provision, when you are talking with someone else, and they say, Hey, I was finally able to see my nephew accept Christ.

What an encouragement that is to us, that God is real, he is acting, and that I can have patience in my struggles, I can have belief in my doubt, knowing that God is still there. How do I know he's there? Because I know from what their testimony is.

Don't keep it to yourself. Share your testimony. And then he says, Your testimony lifts up Jesus.

He says, You're boasting your pride, your confidence in Christ Jesus. Our testimony should never be, Hey, I did this really great thing. I accomplished this.

I did this or that. No, no, no, our testimony always ought to be, We lift up Jesus. Like we talked about last week at length, our entire life is wrapped up in lifting up Jesus.

So this week, as Paul said, I know that I'm going to be with you for your progress, your joy in the faith, as he says, so that your confidence, your pride, your boasting in Jesus would overflow because I'm around.

Will you lead others in obedient worship this week? Your testimony is I followed the Lord and he came through. It's Psalm 34, taste and see that the Lord is good.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard me. How blessed is the one who hides in him. That ought to be our desire that we say, come on, you can continue in your Christian walk.

Why? I'm doing it. I'm not perfect.

I'm not great, but he is. Will you lead others in obedient worship this week? Started out by saying a life lived for Jesus will be marked by service for others.

But I want to ask you today, I've directed this message to the Christians in the room.

But if you are not a Christian, if you have never personally turned from your sin to Jesus alone for salvation, if you have never declared Jesus as Lord of your life personally, I want to encourage you to make that decision today.

It is the most crucial choice that you could ever make in your life. You could be there for people every day of your life until you die. You could say nice things to people.

You can even declare all the things that God has done in everyone else's life. But if you have never turned to Jesus personally, you will never know Christ for eternity. Can I encourage you?

Jesus came, you lived a perfect life, sinless. He died on our behalf, taking on our sins, the punishment that we were due for all of the wrong things we've ever said or thought or done. He died on the cross, pain for our sins.

But he didn't stay dead. Three days later, he rose again from the dead. The Bible says because death was not strong enough to hold him.

And now he offers salvation to every person that will turn to him alone, that will say, I'm done following my way, I'm going the Jesus way. If you have never done that, I would love to talk with you.

At the end of the service, we're going to have a time of invitation. There will be a couple of men up here at the front. I would encourage you, go to them.

They would love to open the Bible and show you how you can know that you have a relationship with Jesus.

If you would like to talk with me, I would love to set up an appointment with you this week where we can talk about accepting Christ as your Lord and as your Savior. For the believers in the room, will you commit to being with others this week?

It won't happen by accident, not meaningfully, not in the way that we're talking about this morning.

Will you commit to be with others this week, to bring Jesus and His presence and His Holy Spirit with you into your conversations and words and actions and texts? Will you commit to being with others this week?

Will you encourage others to grow closer to Jesus, to encourage them in the good things and warn them about the dangers? Will you lead others in obedient worship this week? For Paul, he views his life as a mirror of what Christ had done.

Paul says, I would love to be in heaven, but you all need me.

And what a picture that is of Jesus, that He left heaven for us, that He came so that we would not be alienated from God, so that we would not be aimless through this life, but so that we could know His presence at all times, so that our sins could

be forgiven, so that we could be made right with God. Will you join in that story this week? God, if I live, it's Jesus living through me. If I die, I'm with God.

Either way, Jesus is being magnified, and I'm happy about it.