Be Glad And Rejoice With Me

“BE GLAD AND REJOICE WITH ME” (Outline)

March 29, 2020 - Lent 5 - PHILIPPIANS 2:12-18

INTRO: How are you doing today? Indifferent? Sad? Glad? “Be glad and rejoice with me” are the last words in our text. They are a very fitting theme for our thankfulness to have God’s Word in our hearts, lives. Psalm 118 reminds us “This is the day…” We are also told why “this is the day…” "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the LORD. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (PSALM 118:22-24). The Lord is our cornerstone. This is the day to rejoice. This is from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes. “BE GLAD AND REJOICE WITH ME”. I. You are God’s very own child. II. You are God’s shining lights.

I. YOU ARE GOD’S VERY OWN CHILD

A. Verse 12. “…my dear friends…” Faith in Christ made believer dear friend with the Apostle Paul.

1. The believers heard God’s Word. Believed. Obeyed. Whether Paul was there or not.

2. Faith was an ongoing process. “…continue to work…” Add to faith God’s wisdom, truth.

a. Fear = fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom. b. Trembling = amazed by God’s grace.

B. Verse 13. God’s powerful grace is explained. “God is working in you…” This word is energy.

1. God’s energy worked in them to want to do his will. Believers’ word also is energy.

2. God gave believers his energy to have energy to do everything for God’s will and pleasure.

C. Verses 14, 15a. They were to use divine energy to not complain or argue.

1. They were “children of God”. Believers were members of God’s house, his kingdom.

2. The generation was “crooked and perverted”. Believers’ actions seemed blameless and pure.

D. “Be glad and rejoice with me”. We are children of God. As the Psalmist (118): “This is from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes.” All of us know the value of being a member of a family. We are well aware of the love of a parent for their child. Our loving, heavenly Father’s love for us is perfect. Always. God’s perfect love for us makes us his children. Think of that: we are children of God. We belong in God’s family. “See the kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are! The world does not know us, because it did not know him" (1 JOHN 3:1).

E. As a child of God we also trust in the Lord’s divine care for us. Each day is this day that God freely provides everything beneficial for our soul. The child of God works to “do everything without complaining and argument”. It can be all too easy to complain. Our sinful nature is never, ever satisfied. There is always something wrong in this world. In our lives. We do not live in a perfect world. But our heavenly Father knows what we need. And he daily provides every good and every perfect gift from above. "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied" (1 TIMOTHY 6:6-8). Contentment is only achieved by godliness. “Be glad and rejoice with me”.

F. In these trying times our hope --- our comfort --- our strength comes from the fact we are God’s children. Nothing is able to separate us from the love the Father has for us, his children. We share in our Savior’s blessings. We also share in our Savior’s suffering. During Lent we focus on every-thing the Lord Jesus Christ endured for the sake of his creation. His children. Jesus was falsely ac-cused. He was unjustly convicted. Crucified. Buried. Rose from the dead. All of this Jesus did for us. We are pained by the suffering of our Savior. We are also glad our sins have been fully for-given. "Now if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him” (ROMANS 8:17). “Be glad and rejoice with me.”

“BE GLAD AND REJOICE WITH ME” By grace through faith you are God’s very own child.

II. YOU ARE GOD’S SHINING LIGHTS

A. Verse 15a. The believers obeyed God’s Word. Appeared blameless in a depraved generation.

1. Verses 15b, 16a. Believers were even more than God’s children. Also shining lights.

2. Shining lights “as you hold out the word of life.” Only God’s Word was life. Truth. Way.

3. Verse 16b. Shining as lights Paul knew his work among them was not in vain. Not empty.