Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I want to start in Philippians chapter one, and really just kind of give you a little devotion, basically. A little devotion tonight.
[00:00:15] I was thinking about. I was actually listening to something else and thinking about something else. And I was thinking through, you know, the new year. I was thinking about what. What should be our focus for the new year. I'm not revealing a theme or anything like that, but just thinking about what would be a good kind of topic to bring up in the first service of the year. And as I was thinking on this subject, it came in. Whatever I was listening to, mentioned this verse. And so I got to thinking about it and I thought, well, this will be a fitting way to think about.
[00:00:52] Think about 2025. In other words, what I want to ask and kind of focus on is this question, which is, what is your 2025 going to be about?
[00:01:04] 2025 represents these next 364 days now, not counting today.
[00:01:14] This next year is. It represents. On the calendar. It represents your life. Right, my life.
[00:01:23] What we're. I trust that all of us are going to have a rich and full 2025. I don't want to entertain a thought that it might not be that. So you're going to live through 2025, and your life is going to continue as it has in previous years, assuming that our Lord doesn't return for us. But the question is, in your life over the next year, what is your life going to be about?
[00:01:48] What is my life going to be about? What is going to be the theme? What is going to be the purpose?
[00:01:54] What's going to be the kind of overriding goal?
[00:02:00] What's going to be the main thing that we concentrate on in 2025. I know that this is a question that we should be answering all the time, right? It should be an answer we have each day. And sometimes isn't it so hard when you go to work every day, you know, and, you know, you go to work and perhaps you're in a. You're doing a job that maybe is not the funnest thing in the world. And, you know, we all have things like that we have to do. And when you go to work every day and you're just kind of, you know, putting one foot in front of the other, sometimes you. You lose track of what's the purpose of my life.
[00:02:39] In other words, it seems like the purpose of my life is programming people's car keys, right, for brother Ari or doing the payroll. Now, I know Ms. Karen, she likes. She likes her job. She likes what she does. And the company she works for. But, but still you kind of in the, in the humdrum, the, the day after day work, sometimes you, you, you forget, you know, we lose track and lose sight of what is our main purpose. Why are we here? Why are we doing what we're doing? Why. What is my life about?
[00:03:10] And we know we have to do all those things. Brother Ari has to program keys and unlock people's locks and cut keys and those kinds of things. Ms. Karen has to do payroll. Every one of us, you know, James has to treat people in the emergency room.
[00:03:23] All of us have things we have to do. But for a believer, there should be a unifying factor, right? There should be a unifying, kind of overarching purpose to our life.
[00:03:37] And it should shed light and it should color every part of the boring things, the day by day things in our life. And that's what I want you to see. What is your life? That's what I want to look at. Philippians, chapter 1. Look at, look at verse.
[00:03:59] Verse number 12.
[00:04:03] Philippians and Ephesians and Galatians and Colossians are called the prison epistles because they were written. Paul wrote them. Galatians. I'm not sure if Galatians is off the top of my head, but definitely the other three are prison epistles because Paul wrote them from prison. He was in jail at the time. You can see this in verse 12. The Bible says, but I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. So that my bonds. There it is, he's in prison in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
[00:04:42] So Paul's in jail. So let me ask you a question.
[00:04:45] What is Paul's life like right now?
[00:04:51] It is not fun. Far less fun than you would find yourself in the Greenville County Detention center, I can promise you that. No TVs in his cell for sure.
[00:05:04] Paul's life. Remember, here's the key. Paul's life is not fun. Paul's life is not pleasant. Paul's life seems contrary to his entire purpose, does it not? He's stuck in prison.
[00:05:19] So what Paul is looking at, the view he has is not. Is not ideal. It is not flowing. His life is not flowing in the way that he expected or wanted it to go.
[00:05:33] Now let's go a little bit further.
[00:05:36] Verse number 19.
[00:05:38] For I know that this shall turn to My salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.
[00:05:59] Now here's the verse I want to look at.
[00:06:02] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
[00:06:13] For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Let's pray together.
[00:06:21] Our Lord, as we look at these verses.
[00:06:24] Thank you, Lord, for being our life.
[00:06:28] I pray that you'd help us and give us understanding.
[00:06:32] I pray this truth somehow would sink down into our hearts and help us to see our life even as we look at a new year and all that our life might entail in the next 12 months.
[00:06:45] But Lord, we would see your hand. We would see your life in our life.
[00:06:51] So, Lord, give us understanding. Be our teacher tonight we pray in Jesus name. Amen. So in verse number 22, you do not see Paul saying that I'm living for Jesus. He says something that goes beyond the idea of living for Jesus. You know, some people, you know come to church. You should come to church. But some people come to church, say I'm living for Jesus. That was not the extent of Paul's life, was it?
[00:07:17] No. When Paul, when he says, for to me to live is Christ, he is defining his very life, his very existence, as not things he does for Christ, but Christ himself.
[00:07:33] My life is Christ. And so you could say, christ is my life. Now just. We'll think a little bit more about this in just a minute. But take a minute and look at Ephesians, chapter two. Remember I said that you have the prison epistles. And Ephesians is another prison epistle.
[00:08:00] Ephesians, chapter two.
[00:08:02] You see this same truth. And we'll look at all four. We'll look at Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians, as well as Philippians. But Ephesians chapter 2. Notice what the Bible says here. Verse 1 says, and you hath he quickened, who are dead in trespasses and sin. So we understand that's the context of this verse. Look at verse number four. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead sins.
[00:08:32] Now, what is your life? Right? Your life. We think of life as in our physical life, but our physical life is not our life. Right? Your physical life and my physical life is one day going to come to an end. Yet our life is going to continue we will be eternally alive or eternally dead. Even a person who is, who is, who is yet alive on the earth, who is physically alive is either spiritually dead or spiritually alive, right? So their physical being is not the main thing in view. Whether someone has a beating heart and lungs that function, that is not life. Because a person can have those things and not have life, right? Notice what he says in verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins. And that was us before we knew the Lord Jesus, before He saved us and when he saved us, notice what it says in verse five. Hath quickened us together.
[00:09:35] Now that quickening happens not before we put our faith in Christ, but after we put our faith in Christ. The moment we put our faith in Christ, So what happens is we are made alive, right? In other words, all the things about the Lord, all the, you know, the. The spiritual death becomes spiritual life. And all the things that we would not and could not do, we had no relationship to God. We were cut off, alien aliens from God. And at that moment, we become alive, right? So, but here's what. I don't want to get sidetracked because I tend to do that.
[00:10:14] When Christ made you alive, when he quickened you in that day that you trusted in him, yes, you received life. You became, as they say, you know, energized. You know, you received life from God. You are spiritually aware of the Lord now, right? But now you have a life to live, whereas before you were dead, you served sin, I served sin, we loved it, we wallowed in it, but we were dead to God. Now we're alive to God. And just like we have a physical life and we have. We have events and activities and priorities, and we have years to live. So spiritually we are alive and we have a life to live spiritually.
[00:10:57] So when the Bible says we've been quickened, but notice what it says, verse five hath quickened us together.
[00:11:04] So in Philippians chapter one, the Bible says Christ is our life.
[00:11:09] He is our life.
[00:11:12] Here it says we're quickened together. So he is alive and we are alive because he is alive. So therefore his life is our life. You see the same principle here.
[00:11:23] And hath verse number quickened us together with Christ. Verse 5, by grace ye are saved. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The first thing I want you to see is without Christ, apart from Christ, we have no life but he has given us life.
[00:11:45] He has made us who were once dead alive.
[00:11:49] He has become our life because we are quickened with Him. His life is our life. Because when he found me, I had no life. And as I said, in an instant he gave me life. Therefore it is his life that is to be lived.
[00:12:06] And that's what Philippians is saying here.
[00:12:10] His life has become our life. When he spoke us into, he quickened us at that moment.
[00:12:17] That's his life. And Philippians says, my life is his life.
[00:12:25] Without him we have none. But why did God quicken us?
[00:12:29] Why did God give us new life to live? Was the purpose of this new what was the purpose of this new life that he had given us?
[00:12:39] He gave us life. He didn't give us spiritual life and awaken us from the dead and give us a life from here until eternity to live for ourselves.
[00:12:49] It is his life.
[00:12:53] It is to be lived for for him and for his glory. Second Corinthians 5, verse 14 says this. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. Verse 15 goes on to say, and that he died for all that they which live that's us, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto them, unto him which died for them and rose again.
[00:13:22] So we have no life apart from Christ. When he spoke us, he quickened us from the dead. He gave us life. And that life is not intended to be lived for ourselves.
[00:13:34] It is to be lived as his life.
[00:13:38] The second thing I want you to see if you look at Galatians chapter number two, Galatians two.
[00:13:48] Of course, I'm sure some of you are familiar with this verse. Look at verse number 19, Galatians 2. 19 says, For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
[00:14:08] Now we think of living unto God. Now, don't get, don't, don't get confused with what I'm trying to say here, because I might not be explaining all that clearly.
[00:14:19] When I say we're living when this says live unto God, this is not just talking about whether we, you know, whether we live uprightly or come to church or read our Bible. That's all part of it. But that's. Listen, that's this life we're talking about. We're talking about something that exceeds that he says, and this is, this is verse 20 is one of, in my opinion, one of the more difficult verses in the New Testament to understand.
[00:14:46] It is deep.
[00:14:49] I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. Listen to the words, yet not I. I don't live. But Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. You see what I'm saying? This is from the moment he quickened us. We have spiritual life that he expects us to live. But that life is not ours to live for ourselves. That's the first thing. We've been made alive for God, not for ourselves. But notice, it is not I that is living this life. It is Christ living this life, for it is his life. You see that it's his life in you.
[00:15:41] It's him living his life in you.
[00:15:48] And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me, me. So if you have been made alive, you've been given eternal life, new life, and you have life. That life is Christ. That's what Philippians1 says.
[00:16:06] And as such, it is his life to live, not yours.
[00:16:14] That relieves a great burden from us, because all the burden does not fall upon us to do everything right.
[00:16:23] Christ is in us, living.
[00:16:27] He's in there, and he's living his life because it's his.
[00:16:32] And that leads us to the third thing, which is in Colossians. Look at Colossians 3, verse number 1, Colossians 3. One says, if you then be risen with Christ. This sounds repetitive, I think. Seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
[00:17:06] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life hid with Christ in God.
[00:17:18] When Christ, what does the next four words say? Who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
[00:17:30] This is one of the cases where the Lord tells us a spiritual truth.
[00:17:37] He tells us a spiritual truth. Here's the spiritual truth.
[00:17:41] The truth is that Sister Karen, Brother David, Brother James, all of us, the life you have now as a believer is Jesus. So here's the question. In 2025, what is your life going to be about?
[00:18:03] What is its purpose going to be?
[00:18:06] What is its goal?
[00:18:08] Maybe we could ask it like this at the end, on December 31, 2025, how are you going to define a successful year?
[00:18:22] How are you going to define a year that is satisfying?
[00:18:29] Will it be based upon how much money you have in the bank at the end of the year?
[00:18:34] Will it be based upon how much fun you had, how many joys you had?
[00:18:42] You see, this is the way everyone in all of humanity lives. All of humanity lives with their supreme end. And goal in life is drum roll. Please themselves.
[00:18:58] That's the way mankind lives.
[00:19:02] The end of their life. The purpose of their life is their own riches, their pleasures, their joys, their desires, their praises. Everything in their life is designed to satisfy themselves.
[00:19:17] And if at the end of their life and their life comes to an end, they close and they say, did he had a good life, plenty of money, family, all those things.
[00:19:29] But a Christian's life is not that.
[00:19:32] A Christian's life is Christ.
[00:19:38] Think of Paul. Remember in jail, he had no life.
[00:19:43] He had no life at all.
[00:19:46] But yet what did he say? He says his life was Christ.
[00:19:53] So even in jail and all these other things that generally we consider to be satisfactory and satisfying to us in our life, he had none of those things and yet was totally satisfied because Christ was living in him.
[00:20:11] So what is your 2025 going to look like?
[00:20:16] Why are you going to live 2025?
[00:20:19] What is going to be a successful 2025? What is the purpose for your existence?
[00:20:30] What is the purpose of your existence? You see, for the Christian, one writer I read said this.
[00:20:35] For a Christian, my life is merged and and one with Christ's own life.
[00:20:44] And this is a fact. Can I explain it? No. I'm sure that notwithstanding what I've said tonight, that you guys probably are like, I still don't really understand what he's talking about. I don't fully understand what I'm saying.
[00:20:59] But this is a spiritual truth. My life is his. It is not mine.
[00:21:05] How do I make that a practical reality, though?
[00:21:09] In Colossians chapter three, we're here as an example. Look at verse five.
[00:21:14] Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth. You know you have this flesh, right? And so he says, because your life is Christ, you mortify. This is one example. You mortify your members which are upon the earth, which is sinful things that follow there.
[00:21:33] But if Christ is your life, here's what that means. You're 2025. He's already there. He is going to live his life. He is going to so exert his influence in you. You know what that, you know the effect is going to be is that because Christ is living in you, he is going to seek to do the things that he did, Jesus Christ did while he was on earth, is he not? That's what he's going to. He's living in you, his life in you. So that means the things he did is the things he's going to drive you and move you and lead you and and guide you to do. But our job to make this a practical reality is just to and this might sound silly, but it's just to get out of his way and to acknowledge Lord 2025 is about Christ. My whole life is about Him. Nothing else matters. No other consideration. And everything in my physical life, my job, my family, all of the things that matter. And they all matter. They all come under the umbrella of Christ's life. See that he rules us. He is our purpose. He is our reason to live.
[00:22:43] He is our life.
[00:22:48] We just have to left alone.
[00:22:52] Left alone. He is going to. He is going to live in us right to do the will of God. He is going to live in us to make us more like Him. He is going to do it. We just got to get out of the way. We just got to stop fighting and trying to pull our life back. Because there's things we want to do and things we want to enjoy and there's all those things. And we all know the Lord allows us to enjoy many things. But listen, our life is about him and his way.
[00:23:21] That's why we're here.
[00:23:23] That's why you have life in 2025. Because Christ wants to live in you and in me. Let's pray.
