James Richards

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Sunday Morning Service

Jeremy Richards

Copalis Community Church

09 February 2025

Bible References

• Philippians 2:9-16
• Luke 12:
• Matthew 5:43

Audio MP3 PDF

Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth. That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That as a result of Jesus act of service which demonstrated the full nature of God on earth in in human form, that God has given him and exalted his name above every name that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord. Jesus, when he is confronted with a few questions from the Pharisees, comes back with his own question of how can the individual of whom it is said the Lord said to my Lord say, sit at my footstool until I make or sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool.

That Jesus brings out this own question to the Pharisees. It seems that David has already answered this question regarding the name of the Lord and exalting it. This quotation is used several times in the Bible. The Lord said to my Lord, the Lord is capital L O R D that is Yahweh, the covenant name of God, the Almighty God says to David's Lord. And the question that Jesus is bringing up is who was David's Lord?

David answered that question. All throughout Psalms we see and even at the end of his life he bows down and worships on his bed. He's already answered the question who his Lord is he recognized and he exalts this Lord who sits at Yahweh's right hand. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. That this even though David answered this question, that everyone in this world will be forced at sight some point to recognize the authority of Jesus name.

Some will do it willingly like David and exalt the name of the Lord and worship that Lord. Others at the time when Jesus comes back with his authority and angels will be forced to recognize the authority of Jesus Christ. We're going to go from there into a personal encouragement from Paul towards people to engage in this lifestyle, this Christ like lifestyle of serving others in verse 12, chapter 2, verse 12, chapter 2 of Philippians, verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have also obeyed, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Let's pray, Father. We do just ask, Lord, that during this time, Lord, we'd gain an understanding through your word, Lord, of the kind of people you want us to be, Father, I just ask you to motivate us as individuals, Lord, by your grace, to walk in a way that honors you in Jesus name, Amen. Okay, so Paul here not present with the Philippians, but encouraging them.

Being absent is of the mind that he hopes that when he returns to them, he's going to find them walking in a certain way. We've all been a part of maybe leaving our kids at home, right? This is the first time we're going to leave you at home. I just want the house to be in order. I want it to not be burnt down.

I want everything to be right when we get back. Trusting that, hey, you have a spiritual maturity, you're going to be entrusted with the house and hoping that when we get back they're going to have done their chores. Everything's going to be according to the way we left it. And Paul here is hoping that these individuals who had responded to his message personally now are going to still be continuing to walk out that kind of lifestyle which he has encouraged them to walk in. This is also, I believe, should be a personal encouragement for you and I to walk a certain way.

That he is going to challenge these Philippians, being distant from them, to continue walking a certain way because it's easy to become discouraged or distant or to lose track of the focus that God has for us. At times we lose traction and begin to slide backwards. We lose focus and we begin to engage in things which are of no value. And so Paul is going to encourage us personally to walk in this way. The first thing he says in verse 12, it says, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

This is not working for salvation, but this is the work that accompanies salvation. This is the faith that James that produces works, that without works, faith is dead. This is the kind of thing that accomplishes something. Work out your own salvation. That salvation without a work is not salvation at all.

That when we're called by Jesus Christ to walk with him, we recognize that more than, maybe not more than anything, but one thing about his life is he was a worker. He was engaged continually in that work which the Father had set him to do. That that work endangered him physically, emotionally, spiritually. It pulled put him Always in circumstances where there was conflict. But Jesus was working.

He was not working for what he could get, but he was working because of what God had called him. To is not a work for salvation, but salvation produces a work. This salvation is accomplished. It says here with fear and trembling that there should be a fear and trembling, as we recognize that that work that we are called to is a serious one. One of the examples we see is those two individuals on the cross with Jesus.

And one of them began to mock Jesus. Save yourself and us. And the one on the cross says, do you not know that you are. Do you not fear God? Do you not fear God?

The one says to the other. And the interesting thing is here, this individual had only a short amount of time to live. His death was hours away, and yet he pursued a frame or a direction of life that was not beneficial to himself.

You would say to an individual who only had hours to live, you should be using your time effectively, because you don't know it may only be minutes or hours away from your dying, that you should be working in line with the salvation that God works in you. This individual who did not fear God did not use his last hours wisely. The other individual on the cross says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He used the time effectively that he had while still on the earth. You and I might be a fool like him if we don't use our time effectively.

We think, oh, well, he only had hours to live. But that doesn't mean that you and I should waste our time either. It says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

In Matthew, chapter OR Luke, chapter 12, it says, I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more than that they can do to you. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins and not one of them is forgotten by God, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Do not fear, therefore, for you are of more value than many sparrows. Is definitely, absolutely saying we should not be afraid, but we should fear the one who has power over us. We have a few parables, a parable of the rich fool who put all his resources into barns. Instead of using them, we have things always encouraging people to be using their talents for the glory of God. If we go back to Philippians, we'll keep going here.

The first thing he gives as an encouragement to use our time in the selfless service of other is that we are to work out that salvation that God gives us with fear and trembling. We know that the one who had one talent went and buried that talent. And he said, I feared you for you were an austere man. He knew that God was going to demand an accounting from what God had given him, and yet he was too fearful to put it into practice and said, therefore God cannot cast him away. The Master cast him away.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. The first reason we're to work in the service of others is because our salvation demands it that we were called to walk with Jesus serving others. The second reason in verse 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. The second reason that we should be engaged in serving other people it is because God who is the one doing this work through us. It is God who is the one motivating us and empowering us in this.

In this journey it says, is God who works in you to will. The very desire that you and I have to serve other people is based in the kindness of God. He works in you both to will and to do. Not only is he the one who gives us the desire to do it, he also gives us the power to do it. That that encouragement that we need comes from him, but the resources that we also need come from Him.

We see that the walk of faith is continually engaged in by people who do not have their own resources to accomplish the task in front of them. Only people who are willing by faith to step out and do what God has has called them to. It's the Lord who is the one working. It's the Lord who is calling us to put his yoke upon our shoulder and pull with him in that service.

We see in verse 14 do all things without complaining and disputing. This service that we have been called to, if it's to be done effectively in a God centered way, has to be done without complaining. Now our home is one of the specialties for this kind of environment because we ask people to do things or maybe were asked to do things. And the first thing upon giving an assignment, especially maybe to children is complaining, complaining, regret. Why are you asking me?

Or they haven't done this or that's too hard or it's too cold or it's too this or this outside. God is calling us to a service with Him. He is honoring us to be yoked up with him in his service. It is his pleasure and his will to put on us the honor of serving with him, to joining with him, to taking part in what he cares about, to being the hands that handle his power and his authority. And he enables us with the opportunity to serve Him.

If you've ever been in a home or probably as a teacher, you notice that a lot of times those opportunities are met with complaining, complaining, an opportunity to engage with God in the holy work that he has for us. And we complain, dispute, arguing about it, this nitpicking and thing, when it is a very positive blessing that God has put on us and given us the opportunity to do. In verse 15, that the fulfillment of this kind of service in the lives of other people resembles that of God himself. In verse 15 it says that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. In Matthew it says in chapter five, verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same. And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others do?

Not even the tax collectors do so therefore you shall be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. There is something in the Christian's life that runs absolutely contrary to this world that we live in. It is individuals walking and acting like the Father out of a deference and a love for Jesus Christ who saved them, who treats other people good when they have treated you bad. But this says that the way the world walks is the crooked and perverse one. The crooked and perverse one is to strike when you are struck, to hurt when you are hurt.

And the Lord is saying, no, the way I walk, the way I work, is the straight one. It is the one where you bless your enemies, you do good to those who hurt you. The reason is, and the reward for this is, it says, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. That as individuals who choose to walk in this way that this light shines, Paul says that as his reward that he has not run in vain. As an individual who I pray's goal is to encourage other people to take up the cross of Christ and walk that way.

How encouraging it is for those who are in leadership, who have preached the gospel to us, have ministered to us, for them to actually see that that gospel they have preached and we've preached has taken root in the heart of the lives of those we've preached to, to see them actually walking in a way that blesses those people, that it was not a work that was done in vain. We think of those people who preached to us, who sacrificed their lives, who put aside the things so they could preach the gospel to us. In some ways we want to make them proud that that message that was preached to us through them had an impact that caused us to walk a certain way.

And that message, of course, that we're preaching to others, we definitely we want to see that gained root, grow and build and flourish. I just like to recap before, in more of a plea for you and I, that this life we have on earth is short, that we have an opportunity because of that salvation which Jesus Christ has offered us to walk with him in a ministry that he is going to supply the impetus, power for. He is looking for people to walk with him in a ministry where he shows other people who don't deserve it kindness and love. He's going to look for people who don't deserve goodness. And he wants to find people he can use to show his goodness to those people.

He don't deserve it. This is a ministry that is compelling in the fact that he offers it to us, but it's also a bit dangerous because those who would walk with him, he expects to walk well. He expects that when we engage with him on this plan that we recognize who he is as authority and that we walk with Him. We have to recognize that our time is short and fear God because we are. He is the one who is going to.

We are going to have to give an account to of the talents that we use. There may be individuals in your life that are pushing you to walk a certain way. And I know that we tend to walk our wives and our children to berate them and, you know, to push them and prod them, or maybe our husbands and wives and this and that. But Jesus Christ is different. He is motivating us to walk with him in a way that is consistent with his own walk.

He plans. He says that I am the one who is moving you in this direction. I supply the power for you to do it. Make sure that when you are given this opportunity to serve other people that you don't reject it because of complaining and disputing. A willingness to engage in the task that God has given you to bless those people around you that God has brought into your life.

There's a tendency to say they don't deserve it. That is absolutely true. And Jesus is in the ministry of blessing people who don't deserve it. And he started with you and I, giving us the talents to use them for his service.

Our nation, our community, our culture is in desperate need of lights shining on the path that is straight.

Finish in verse 16. Holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. If it ends up that it is even to your last breath and energy given your life for other people. Paul says, I am glad and rejoice.

And I believe that those individuals who walk with Jesus Christ, who said for the joy set before for him endured the cross, that we will also be glad that we spent it in service for other people in the ministry that God has called us to do. So my encouragement to you and to me this week is to take up those opportunities. Fear God. The time is short. God has called you into this ministry for a purpose.

He supplied the power. Engage in it without complaining, without disputing. It's not a dishonor, it's an honor. God has called you at his side. Walk with him.

It's a privilege. Let's pray. Oh Father, here we are. Lord. Lord, if nothing else, Lord, give us an opportunity to experience joy, to serve people who don't deserve it.

Help us to become an example, a picture of the Father's love to other people, shining a light on a culture that is crooked. In Jesus name, amen.