Paul - the Joyful Martyr

Introduction and Context: Paul's Joyful Anticipation of Martyrdom

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, July 12, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 Before we turn to the word of God, may I say that if any of you men feel you'd be more comfortable and be able to pay closer attention, if you were able to loosen your tie or take it off and open up your collar to get a little more ventilation, feel free to do so. Also, the scripture tells us that our Father knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust, and we do not dishonor him if in the worship of such a God we acknowledge that we are sensitive to the things that he is sensitive about. So please feel free to do so if that's your desire. Now let us turn together to Philippians, I'm sorry, Philippians chapter 2, after a digression of some five Lordships. On Wednesday mornings we return today to our studies in Paul's letter to the Philippian congregation. Follow as I read Philippians 2, verses 12 through 18. Philippians 2, beginning the reading with verse 12.

1:23 So then, my beloved, 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. Fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and questionings, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may have whereof. Do not to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain, neither labor in vain. Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice in service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you. And in the same manner do you also joy and rejoice with me. Our attention this morning will be focused primarily upon verses 17 and 18.

2:36 Yes? Yes, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice in service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. And in the same manner do you also joy or rejoice and rejoice with me. Now you will remember, I trust, the previous studies, particularly in this paragraph, since verses 17 and 18 are the last unit of thought in this, this larger unit of thought, beginning in verse 12, it's essential for us to catch something of the flow of the Apostle's thought.

3:16 In chapter 2, he had exhorted the Philippians to Christian unity and to the graces which are essential to that unity, namely the graces of humility and self-forgetfulness, verses 3 and 4. Then, beginning with verse 5, he sets forth, Jesus Christ as the great example and pattern of those graces of humility and self-forgetfulness. Following that, he exhorts them in verse 12 to a life of obedience, obedience rendered on the one hand in a context of holy concern described as fear and trembling, and yet in a context based upon the confidence, that it is God himself who works in us, too willing to work for his good pleasure. That life of obedience is to be marked by the absence of murmurings and questionings. The twin sins of unbelief and rebellion which give birth to this murmuring and disputing are not to be named amongst the people of God. Then in verse 15, he gives the reason for the exhortation.

4:34 This first reason pertains to the Philippians, and their attainment of a blameless witness in the face of an onlooking world. And then in verse 16, he gives a motive with respect to himself that his labors in the day of Christ may prove to have been not in vain. And so verse 16, then, forms the launching pad for the sentiments of verses 17 and 18. The apostle has said, Live out this life of obedience, this life marked by the absence of murmurings and disputings, that I, as a servant of Christ, may not have run or labored in vain.

5:19 And it's almost as though the apostle anticipates an objection. Now, Paul, isn't that an ego trip? For you to give us as a motivation unto godliness that you may not be found to have run or labored in vain in the day of Christ. Isn't that a rather self-centered motive?

5:41 And it's as though the apostle anticipates the objection and says, No, it is far from a self-centered motive, for in this laboring and in this running in the work of the gospel on your behalf, I am prepared, if necessary, to lay down my very life for your advancement in holiness and in obedience. And furthermore, I do that joyfully, and I call upon you, Philippians, to share the same spirit with me. Do ye also rejoice and rejoice with me. So that's the flow of thought and the connection of these verses with what preceded. Now, in the verses themselves, we have, first of all, one very simple assertion, then one central exhortation, and then one central assertion, and then one central exhortation. And then one central exhortation, and then one central exhortation, One dominant imagery. First of all, one very simple assertion.

The Assertion, Exhortation, and Dominant Imagery of Sacrifice

6:43 The assertion is in verse 17. Yes, and if I'm offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice with you all. Now, the simple assertion, stripped of all figurative language, is simply this. Yes, you Philippians, I am prepared, if necessary, to die a martyr's death in order to advance your faith, and in this prospect I rejoice in myself, and I rejoice with you.

7:21 That is the one simple assertion of the text. I am prepared, says the apostle, to die a martyr's death and to do so with joy. Then there is one central exhortation. Verse 18 has two present imperatives.

7:41 The exhortation is, and in the same manner, do you also rejoice and rejoice with me. So, the central exhortation is, that as I rejoice in the prospect of a martyr's death in pursuit of serving you in the gospel, you must rejoice. Rejoice as I do, and you must rejoice with me, even as I rejoice with you. So, the assertion has to do with his readiness to die a martyr's death.

8:19 His exhortation to the Philippians has to do with their attitude and disposition in the face of that prospect. However, this simple assertion and this central exhortation come to us...

8:34 comes to us couched in one dominant imagery. The man who said in chapter 1, verses 20 and 21, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. The man who could speak in plain language of departing and being with Christ, could he not have said, yes, and if I must die a martyr's death for the advancement of your faith, I rejoice. Could he not have said, yes, could he not have spoken of the possibility of a martyr's death in plain, unambiguous language?

9:11 He was not like men in our day, who dress up death with euphemisms in order to take away the reality of it, who speak about someone going on and passing on and taken from us. He was not reluctant to use the plain, blunt, ugly word, die, in chapter 1. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But you see, the man who was not at all reluctant to use the plainest language about death in chapter 1 does not use that kind of plain, simple, blunt language.

9:47 Rather, he sets forth this possibility of his martyrdom in language which literally oozes with vivid imagery from the ritual of sacrifice. And in so doing, he states things that are not only interesting, but in the truest sense, are nothing short of beautiful. Now, the key words by which he couches these thoughts in the imagery of sacrifice, if you look at your Bibles, are these. Offered, sacrifice, and service.

10:24 Notice them. Yes, and if I am offered. And that word offered literally means to pour out as a drink offering, or a libation. The only other place it is found in the New Testament is 2 Timothy 4.6, in which the apostle, facing his impending death under Nero, says, I am already being poured out as a libation, or a drink offering. I am already being poured out as a sacrificial offering. Then, obviously, the word sacrifice itself. If I am offered.

11:05 Offered upon the sacrifice of your faith. And it's the standard word used for the ritual sacrifice. That is, the giving up of an animal in religious ritual unto God. You find it in such passages as Mark 12 and verse 33.

11:25 Then this word service is a word which can mean the service of God in a general way. It's used of the civil magistrate in Romans 13. But it is also the word used again and again in the New Testament to describe the service that is carried on in the official worship of God. The service of priest in the temple or the tabernacle.

11:53 Hebrews 8, verse 2 and verse 6. Now, bringing those three words together in so short a compass, I am offered, that is, poured out as a drink, upon the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith, the apostle is making it very evident that he wants us to think of his possible death as a martyr in this very rich and profound imagery of priestly ritual. Now, this is very strange. Because the New Testament is very reluctant to use priestly and sacrificial language for any other reality but the death of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross for sinners. Everything in the Old Testament ritual of priest and bloody sacrifice and offering has its glorious and most wonderful fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the one and only true and final priest. And so, in such passages as Hebrews chapter 7 and Hebrews chapters 8 and 9, the priesthood of Christ is set before us as the only true priesthood.

The New Testament's Reluctance and Figurative Use of Priestly Language

13:16 The scripture says he has by one sacrifice for sin forever sanctified his people. He alone is a priest in the power of an endless life. However, the scriptures say, However, the scriptures do use the figurative language of priesthood in speaking of certain privileges and responsibilities of Christians though there are one or two places where they speak of the functions of the ministers of the gospel under the figure of a priesthood. But I say the Bible is very reluctant to do so for the simple reason that God would not have us confused in any way with respect to the spirit of Christ. The central doctrine of the gospel, namely, that guilty sinners have access to God through no other priesthood or sacrifice than the priesthood of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ. Ministers are not priests in respect whatsoever in terms of a sinner's access to God. Sinners are invited to come directly to God through the soul mediators, of Jesus Christ alone, if I may be forgiven the repetition of soul and alone.

14:43 First Timothy 2.5, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. But the language of sacrifice is here in our passage, and it's there for a purpose. It's found later in this book, chapter 4 and verse 18.

15:01 Look at it for a moment. I have all things and abound, I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you. Now notice how he describes the gifts of the Philippians to Paul in prison, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. It's the language used in 1 Peter 2.5, in which Peter says that we are built together to be a living temple, to be priests, to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God. It's the language of Romans 12.1. We are to offer our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.

15:49 And we must spare no pains to arrive at a proper understanding of the meaning of the apostle in this passage. Now, why did he describe his joyful willingness? To die a martyr's death in the language of the sacrificial ritual? Well, the answer to that question comes from the scriptures themselves.

Unlocking the Imagery: Romans 15 and the Priestly Ministry of the Gospel

16:14 And there are two key passages that unlock the meaning of the apostle in Philippians 2.17. The first one is Romans chapter 15. Look at it with me, if you will, please.

16:30 Romans chapter 15.

16:35 In verse 15, the apostle writes, But I wrote, I write the more boldly unto you in some measure, as putting you again in remembrance because of the grace that was given me of God, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. it. Now in this passage when he calls himself a minister, verse 16, he uses not the standard word for a gospel preacher, but he uses the word that is in the same family of priestly service, the same family of words that we have in Philippians chapter 2. Then he states that as such a minister, he was ministering the gospel of God, and if you have the 1901, you'll notice the footnote, ministering in sacrifice or ministering in the capacity of a priest. Now what in the world is he saying? He said, I have been bold to write to you

17:54 Romans, and I have done so, he says, because I have been given the responsibility as a minister. He's a minister of Christ, ministering in sacrificial service the gospel of God. Now if he's likening the gospel ministry to a priestly activity, then the question is, what does he have to offer as a priest? A priest with no offering is no true priest. If you have a priest, you must have an offering. If you have an offering, you must have an altar. I am bold to write to you because I recognize that by the appointment of God as a gospel preacher, I have a priestly function among the Gentiles. Now notice carefully, what was that priestly function? Was it to say some Latin or English words over the bread and

18:55 the wine and to turn them into a bloodless sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ and offer it upon an altar in a so-called mass? No! His offering had nothing to do with the communion table. It had to do with people.

19:16 Look at the passage. That which is offered up by the apostle in his priestly function is nothing other than the Gentiles themselves. Look at the language. That I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, functioning in a priestly capacity with respect to the gospel of God.

19:39 That the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified not by priestly hocus-pocus, not by religious ritual, but it's an offering that is sanctified, set apart unto God as holy through the ministry of the Spirit. Now do you get the imagery? It's beautiful. It's beautiful imagery. Paul says, when I come as a gospel preacher, there are the things that are holy. There are the things that are unholy. There are the masses of the un-converted people, in their deadness and uncleanness, cut off from communion with God and not fit for the service of God. I come and I preach the gospel. The gospel outlined in Romans. The gospel of divine righteousness.

20:26 The gospel of human guilt. The gospel of human depravity. The gospel of divine intervention on behalf of sinners. And he says, when I preach that gospel, I perform a priestly function.

20:39 The knife of the gospel comes and slays the victim. It slays his pride, pride of intellect. It slays his self-righteousness. It slays his self-will.

20:52 And when sinners slain by the word of the gospel, through the power of the Spirit, respond to the gospel, they give themselves up unto God through Jesus Christ. They become a living, acceptable sacrifice unto God and as a preacher, I was the priest who was instrumental to effect that sacrifice through the power of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that beautiful imagery? That Almighty God is so determined that He shall have a people for Himself, that He commissions His servants to preach the everlasting gospel, which becomes the instrument of this spiritual sacrifice, of this bringing unto God through the Holy Spirit, through the work of Christ, a people for His praise. Now turn back to Philippians, and I think you'll begin to see what Paul is saying. He says, Yes, and if I am poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, the sacrifice and service of the Philippians, which grew out of their faith response to the gospel, is what the apostle has in mind. When he preached the gospel to the Philippian jailer, when he preached it to Lydia, and the Lord opened her heart and she responded,

22:20 he says that response was like a spiritual sacrifice. Your pride and your self-will and your self-righteousness were slain, and in joyful abandonment to Christ, you gave yourself up unto God through Him. This then was the beginning, of the sacrifice and priestly service of their faith, and every subsequent act of Christian obedience is an act of sacrifice and service growing from faith. That's the picture, and Romans 15 opens up that part of the text.

Unlocking the Imagery: Exodus 29 and the Drink Offering

22:57 But you say, Pastor, what about the first part of the text? He says, And if I be poured out upon or in conjunction with the sacrifice and service of your faith, what's he talking about there? Well, our second passage unlocks that matter. Turn to Exodus chapter 29.

23:17 Exodus chapter 29.

23:20 Being steeped in the Old Testament scriptures, this, no doubt, was the imagery that was in the mind of the apostle. And this is the thing that you shall do to hallow them to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two rams without a sword, without blemish, and unleavened bread and cakes, unleavened, mingled with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil, and fine wheat flour shall you make them. Of fine wheat flour shall you make them.

23:55 And you shall bring them in one basket, and bring them in the basket with the bullock and the two rams.

24:05 I'm sorry, I wanted verses 38 to 41. I'm terribly sorry. It's not verse 15, 1 to 10, that is a parallel passage. I gave you the verse, I gave you the wrong reference.

24:12 Verse 38. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar, two lambs a year old by day continually. Day by day continually. One lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even.

24:29 And with the one lamb, a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin, a tin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meal offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor and offering made by fire unto the Lord. Now what do we make of all of that? Well, simply this.

25:02 God said in the standard daily morning and evening sacrifice, a lamb was to be slain and placed upon the altar. But, now get it, the sacrifice of the lamb was not complete unless it was first of all sprinkled with the flour mingled with oil, and in conjunction with the pouring out of the wine of the drink offering. And you have an extension of this in another sacrificial ritual described in Numbers 15, 1 to 10. But the thought is this, the sacrifice of the animal was incomplete, complete without the addition of the drink offering of the wine.

25:48 And in heathen sacrifices, almost all of the biblical scholars indicate that this can be substantiated from pagan records, they poured their drink offerings upon their sacrifice, and that may be why Paul used the preposition upon, whereas in the Jewish ritual, the drink offering was poured out alongside the sacrifice, but whether it was upon or alongside, this much is clear. The sacrifice was considered incomplete until there was the pouring out of the drink offering, and then it was a sacrifice acceptable to God. Now look at the apostles' words. Yes, and if, or in conjunction with the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice with you. You see what he's saying? He's saying, O my Philippians, when I tell you that I long that you live a life blameless and harmless, sons of God without rebuke, and I give as one of the motives that I may not be found in the day of Christ to have run or labored in vain, I'm not speaking as a self-centered, self-sparing, self-promoting man.

27:14 Philippians, you know how I view you, as a gospel sacrifice. And when I came into Philippi as a preacher and preached the gospel, and the Holy Ghost attended it with power, you became a sacrifice unto God. In priestly service, you gave yourselves up to Him, and as you continue to obey Him and live to His praise, doing all things without murmurings and disputings, you are more and more like sacrifices without blemish, living to the praise of God. And, O Philippians, listen.

27:53 If for the perfection of that sacrifice, my I counted a privilege to die and have His sacrifice whole from among the Gentiles. That's the picture. He says, My life, as far as sparing for Paul, is of no more worth to me than the wine, so determined that God will have a sacrifice according to His revealed will, that He does not selfishly, spare the wine, but He gladly pours it out, that the sacrifice may be a sweet-smelling, acceptable sacrifice to God. And the Apostle Paul is saying that he's prepared to have his lifeblood poured out, and perhaps even using the drink-offering imagery he was setting forth. I wouldn't be dogmatic. The very method of his death, it would be a violent death in which his head would roll into a basket in a matter of minutes.

29:11 All of his life's blood would spurt forth and be spilled upon the ground. And he says, O Philippians, as I think of that, I'm not sad, I rejoice. What greater privilege can there be to spend even unto death itself, if only God can have what God desires in you Philippians? That's the picture.

Application 1: Exposing Roman Catholic Errors

29:36 That's the meaning of the text. Now then, what does all that say to us? And I know it's warm, and I know it's difficult to concentrate. I have felt those difficulties in preaching, but for the next few minutes will you concentrate with me as I try to bring an application of this text to each one sitting here this morning.

30:00 These words contain a manifold message to all of us. The first word it contains is a word exposing the blasphemous errors of the Roman Catholic Church. Now if there are any Roman Catholics sitting here this morning, do not misunderstand me. I am not attacking Roman Catholics as people.

30:22 That is an unchristian thing to do, to attack people from the pulpit or anywhere. But I am saying that this text exposes the blasphemous errors of the Roman Catholic Church as a system. That church which claims to trace its succession back to Christ and his apostles, claims to have a true priesthood. It claims to have a true altar and a true sacrifice.

30:52 And it is utterly blasphemous because the apostles and our Lord know of only one priest through whom we draw near to God, and that is Jesus Christ. The Bible knows of but one sacrifice. That sacrifice was enacted once for all upon the cross when our Lord died and rose from the dead. There is but one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.

31:24 And the only priesthood that any human being has is a figurative priesthood. And Paul says that as an apostle his priesthood is not that of the Roman Catholic priest. It stands between God and none. So he says it is a priestly function in conjunction with one activity alone.

31:45 And when men believe that, then they come directly to God through Jesus Christ. And in so doing, they are figuratively speaking constituted a sacrifice unto God. But then this passage contains not only a word exposing the blasphemous errors of the Roman Catholic Church, but it contains a word condemning the cursed spirit of our society. What is the spirit of our society?

Application 2: Condemning the Cursed Spirit of Our Society

32:21 Well, it is epitomized in the words, enjoy yourself, indulge yourself, fulfill yourself, your selfhood. And this philosophy comes to one of its most frightening expressions in the obsession with sex and with drugs. And in the recent article on cocaine and the tragic way it has taken over our nation, found in Time Magazine, July the 8th, listen to what pagan writers say. One of cocaine's biggest dangers is that it diverts people from normal pursuits.

33:01 It can entrap and redirect people's activities into an almost exclusive preoccupation with the drug. On the other hand, that may be what attracts people to it. As Christopher Lash wrote in his 1978 book, The Culture of Narcissism, Narcissism is a big word for self-love, to live for the moment is the prevailing passion. Live for yourself, not for your predecessors, or your posterity.

33:29 We are fast losing the sense of historical continuity, the sense of belonging to a succession of generations originating in the past and stretching into the future. It's the waning of the sense of historical time, in particular, the erosion of any strong concern for generations to come that distinguishes the spiritual crisis of the seventies. People obsessed with illicit sex and drugs are ruining their bodies, breaking up the stability of the genetic pool. Exposure to hear a man say,

34:29 Be poor, my joy. What a rebuke. The spirit of our society. And it ought to be a rebuke to some of you sitting here today who have all too much imbibed that spirit.

35:08 In moral and ethical things, the first question you ask is, What's wrong with it? And that's the great betrayal of yourself, self-centeredness. The man who's begun to think like Paul says, What good is there in it? And good for my own soul.

35:32 And so, by living in the rule, what's wrong with it? You cannot be faulted with this glaring moral defect or that glaring moral defect, but neither is your life marked by the contagion of self-giving love. With the use of your spare time, your spare money, your spare energy, your spare thoughts, that's the difference between those who've imbibed the spirit of Paul and those who are still chained by the spirit of this age. What a man does with his free time is the revelation of the true state of his heart.

36:15 What he does with his money beyond meeting the basic necessities and beyond his tithes, that shows where the man's heart is. Is he continually scheming for that money for the kingdom of God and the good of others? Scheming to find ways to justify spending it on himself in the name of leisure. Oh, how we need the spirit of Paul who says, No, in my passion to have a full reward in the day of Christ, I'm not a self-centered man on an ego trip.

Application 3: Revealing the Nature of a Saving Response to the Gospel

36:51 I am prepared to pour out my life as a libation upon the sacrifice and service of your faith. But then thirdly, this passage is a word revealing the nature of a saving response to the gospel. You know what the gospel does if it's truly embraced? It kills you.

37:10 And then it makes you alive with a whole new direction to your life. That's how Paul viewed the success of the gospel. Isn't that what he said in Romans? I've been bold to write to you.

37:21 God made me a minister of the gospel to minister the gospel in a manner that has some analogies with the priesthood. And as the priest would take the lamb and with the knife of execution would plunge it into the vitals of that lamb. So he says, I come with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and I plunge it into men's hearts. And what happens?

37:46 There bleeds out the lifeblood of sinful existence, carnal intellectual pride, self-righteousness and self-will. And then the Spirit of God comes to animate that which has been slain and it becomes a living sacrifice, presented unto God through His will and to serve Him with joy. That's what a saving response to the gospel does. It makes of all who embrace it part of that great sacrifice of the Gentiles sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

38:18 Has the gospel done that to you? Has it? Or is it a set of facts that you subscribe to? A set of propositions that you, without reservation, subscribe to here this morning?

38:32 But my friend, is the gospel made a sacrifice unto God here this morning? Unto God sanctified by the Holy Spirit? Your response to the gospel is defective. This text shows us what a saving response to the gospel is.

Application 4: Encouraging a God-Centered Passion for Gospel Spread

39:00 But then, it also contains a word encouraging a God-centered passion for the spread and success of the gospel. Now there's a lot of talk in our day, books, pamphlets, seminars, all passionately concerned with church growth. Ninety percent of it is so carnal it stinks to high heaven. The passion is to impress people.

39:23 Passion is by size to impress the world. By growth to impress yourself that you're successful. Oh, not with the apostle. He longed for success.

39:34 Yes, he said, O Philippians, go on with God. Become blameless and harmless that I may not run or labor in vain. But notice the God-centered motive. He says, I'm willing to be offered up, as a drink offering, upon the sacrifice and service of your faith.

39:51 Here is a passion for the success of the gospel that is God-centered. You see, a sacrifice has reference to God. Hebrews 5.1, A priest is appointed in things pertaining to God, that he may offer sacrifices to God.

40:07 And when Paul thought of the masses of the Gentiles in their spiritual uncleanness, this is what grieved him. As we read in Acts, Acts 17, he saw the whole city given over to idolatry. He was stirred. He said, here are creatures made to glorify God.

40:27 Made for the true priestly service of God. Made to live in fellowship with God. Made to live in communion with God. And they're held in the grip of ignorance and vice and all forms of ungodliness.

40:42 And he said, oh, I long. Oh, dear people, this should be our passion as we think of our generation. Why do we want the success of the gospel? It should be for no lesser a motive than this, that sinners might be offered up unto God, sanctified by the Spirit, that they may become those living sacrifices, wholly acceptable unto God, which is their spiritual service, and by a process of transformation of mind, may more and more live to the will of God.

Application 5: Impelling Motive to Devoted Obedience and Self-Sacrifice

41:19 And then finally, the text contains an impelling, impelling motive to a more devoted life of obedience to God. If Paul viewed the sacrifice of the Philippians, he speaks of their whole life of faith as a sacrifice and a priestly service. But you see, it hadn't reached perfection. And he said, if in your nurture I must die, whether with you, helping you, or by my example, as he indicated in chapter one, and others becoming more bold through my unashamed death for Christ, if that will cause you to be a more perfect sacrifice unto God, I'm willing for it. And as I've reflected upon this text, I've had to ask the question, do I have the passion that my life shall be the most perfect sacrifice unto God, that the grace of God can make it? You see, God is disgusted when imperfect sacrifices and blemished sacrifices are offered unto Him. This is the complaint He makes through the prophet Malachi, chapter one, in verse six.

42:32 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I then am your father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear, says the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name? And ye say, even if we despised your name, you offer polluted bread upon my altar.

42:54 And you say, wherein have we polluted you? In that you say, the table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil. And when you offer the lame and the sick, it is no evil.

43:08 Will he be pleased with you, or will he accept your person, says the Lord of hosts? Do you see the imagery? You and I are a kingdom of priests called upon to offer the spiritual sacrifice of ourselves unto God. Just this morning, don't I have any honor as your father and as your master?

43:28 So be necessary, from contact with the world, to teach you by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, whole, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. There is much more in the text, the whole matter of the apostle's exhortation. You rejoice and rejoice with me. It's as though he carries on the imagery saying, look, if you're the sacrifice, and the thought of my pouring out my life's blood to complete the sacrifice makes me happy.

44:39 If I rejoice over the sacrifice, you Philippians stand with me over the same sacrifice and rejoice with me because God is getting a complete sacrifice and that's all that matters. Paul is expendable. I count not my life as dear to myself. How can we come near a text like this and not be ashamed at our selfishness?

45:02 I've had to hang my head in shame at my desk and I've had to say, God, how can I think or talk of spacing my energies and planning out the rate at which I'll expend myself in the gospel? How can you live near a man like this even for these 45 minutes that we've done this morning and not feel ashamed of our selfishness? God, give us such a sight of the ultimate sacrifice of our blessed Lord who willingly laid down his life to be our true priest, our true sacrifice that we in turn seem somehow of that spirit in him and reflected in his servant Paul that we may be able to say to some degree, yes, if I am poured out as a drink offering that the sacrifice and service of the life of faith of others either coming to faith or growing in faith, whatever it be, if I can be poured out as a Gentile because of my self-denying labors empowered by the sacrifice of the Holy Spirit, dear mother, that's what being a real mother is all about. It's a daily climbing up on the altar and saying,

46:30 Lord, I die. I die. I die. I die.

46:39 Shackles of your house. Throw off the limitations of nurturing your little ones. Throw it all away. Expose yourself.

46:48 Identify yourself. Rubbish! Offered up on the sacrifice and service of the faith of my children, I will rejoice. If in the last day I can hear my Savior say to me, as a mother who gave herself to her God-given task, well done, good and faithful servant, then the glorious times and her ills will hear the words, it revels.

47:25 Fathers, what price are you paying for success in the business world? Is it the price of being a selfless father to your children? The price tags too high. To be able to say to your children, if I am in the eyes of the world, if my life is a waste, that I might see my children living sacrifices unto God, I rejoice.

47:59 You see how it carries over into every dimension of life. Oh, may God write it upon our hearts. May He, in the way that only He can do, make applications where the preacher cannot go. And may He make the application effectual as the preacher cannot do.

Prayer of Confession and Supplication

48:15 Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for the richness of Your Holy Word. We thank You for the great Apostle in whom grace worked to such a heightened degree. We do not glorify him, for we know that he called himself the chief of sinners and gladly confessed that he was what he was by the grace of God.

48:51 We pray that that same grace that is ours in Christ may work in us the same spirit of self-giving love. O Lord, we confess with shame our self-centeredness, our self-interest, our self-indulgence, and in moments such as these it appears so ugly to us. O help us, help us, that the things we sense and see and feel in moments such as these may become the settled principles of our lives. O God, seal the Word with power in the heart of saint and sinner alike.

49:30 Amen. To the end, that You may be praised by those living sacrifices presented unto You through Jesus Christ to serve You, to honor You, to live before You in the power of the Spirit. These mercies we ask with thankfulness for Your help and presence even in this hour, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.