Then we will listen to a few verses from Romans 12. First Philippians 4 and then Romans 12. Where is the Word of God? That is why, my dear brothers and sisters, I long for my happiness and crown, which is so firmly in the Lord's love. I command you, Odeon, and I command Saint Tychus, to be united in the Lord. And I also ask you, O righteous companion, be helpful to these women, who have struggled with me in the Gospel. Also with Clemens and my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Always rejoice in the Lord. I rejoice in you. Let your friendliness be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be worried about anything, but let your desires and everything be known to God through prayer and thanksgiving. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will keep your hearts and your sins in Christ Jesus. Father brothers, all that is true, all that is honorable, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is loving, all that is faithful, all that is true and all that is faithful, think of it. And what you have learned, received, heard and seen in me, do it, and the God of peace will be with you. I am very happy, gentlemen, that you have finally reawakened to think about my interests, which you have also thought about, but you have not had the opportunity to do so. Not that I am saying this out of lack, because I have learned to be content with the circumstances in which I am. I know how to humble myself. I know how to have influence. In every respect. And in all things I am subordinate, that I may be blessed, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full, that I may be full For also in Thessalonica you have sent for my needs more than once. Not that I seek the gifts, but I seek the fruit that will be fruitful on your account. But I received everything, and I was overjoyed. I was overjoyed that I received from the Paphrodites what was sent by you, a loving gift, a well-meaning sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will fulfill every need of you after his riches, In holiness through Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, holiness for all eternity. Amen. Greetings to all the saints in Christ Jesus. To all the brothers who are with me, greetings to you. To all the saints, and to all those who belong to the imperial house, greetings to you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Let's go to Romans 12. Verses 1 and 2. I command you, brethren, for the departure of God, That you make your body as a living, holy, and to God kind sacrifice. That is your reasonable service to God. And do not become like me in this world, but be changed by the renewal of your courage, so that you can prove what the good, kind, and perfect will of God is. Amen. That is the word of God. In this chapter, there are two main characters. Paulus and the community. If you were to look through a window into a house, the plot would be very simple. On this side is Paulus. He is in need. He is in need. He is in financial need. And on this side is the municipality. So you see these two characters. You see Paulus and the municipality. And then you see what they do. The municipality sends money to Paulus. And then Paulus reacts to the municipality's message. A simple picture. But if you take a closer look, you'll see that there's a lot more going on. It's a lot heavier than just this. It's just a man with a nose and a group of other people who provide for this nose. It's more than that. And the language that Paul uses to describe what these municipalities are doing here, Give something of it. He says, a loving gift, a well-meaning sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. These are not only people who fulfill the needs of other people. This is a piece of worship that takes place here. This is something you have to remember, what the temple service was. What it was when the people came to the temple to bring their sacrifices. It is a prayer. They come to pray to their God, the God who saved them. They come to pray and to serve. Even with their sacrifices. Sacrifices are prayer. And so he's doing something that initially seemed superficial, as if only one person could do it. You don't give money to anyone. Paul is saying to you, but he's doing something bigger here. He's doing something much heavier than what happens here, than what you initially realize when you walk into the building through the window. Now, let's take a look at these characters. First we have Paulus. And if you think about Paulus' life, you realize that there is a lot more to this person than just someone who is in need. Think about what God did to Paulus. There was Paulus, a pharisee. And as a pharisee, he was also a person of conscience. He was the one who taught at the feet of Gamaliel. He was the one who kept the clothes when Stephanus died. He was the one who sent the high priest to Damascus with letters. So he personally had contact with the high priest with letters to capture more Christians and bring them back to be persecuted. He was a person who wanted to wipe out the church in a big way. He was a tool in the hands of the enemy. The enemy must have been very happy every time Paul appeared on the stage. And he was busy washing out the church. He was busy trying to silence the good news of Jesus Christ. That it should not be heard in Jerusalem or in any other area. But look how mighty our Lord is. Paul is on his way, with these plans, to make further scales, to further dilute the Gospel, to further wash out the Church. And the enemy is trying to make a big deal out of it, because here comes my tool that has to dilute the Gospel. And then Christ comes on the Damascus path and says, no, you will become my tool. Christ is grappling for himself. He takes Paul out of the fire. And it is something that Paul describes in Ephesians 4, where he describes all the services in this language. of the king who came down and defeated the enemy. Think about what Christ did when he became human. He came to make war. He came to fight. He came to conquer. And when he conquers, he goes up into heaven. He goes into the throne of heaven and the city of heaven as conqueror king. Not as a failure. Not as a danger in his mission. No. He has overcome. He has defeated. And then he goes up and sits on his throne and he reigns. And then he reads us in Ephesians 4. And he begs, accepted by the enemy. And he distributes it to his church. And when he begs, it is not things, it is people. He took people from the enemy. And he handed those people over to the church, so that the church would be ready for their service. And among them were the apostles. And then you see how clearly it plays out with the apostle Paul. where Christ takes powerfully out of the hands of the enemy and says, You are mine. Your life is for me and for my kingdom. You will no longer be willing to destroy the kingdom, destroy the church and try to stop the gospel. No, the Holy Spirit will come and change Paul so radically, that what he had for an eternity to destroy, he is willing to build it for his whole life. What He wanted to silence, is to change His Holy Spirit for the rest of His life. That it is willed to be heard more and more and more. That all people must hear of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And that there is only redemption in Him. That you must turn to Him, and if you reject Him, He will come again. And you will stand before Him, and He will come to judge you. The Gospel must be heard everywhere. That through faith alone in Jesus Christ there is salvation. Not in yourself. Not in your own attempts. And here you see now, if you look through the window, initially when you walk past the building and you look in carefully and you see a person with need. But as soon as you look a little deeper, you see that there is more going on. Here you actually see a sacrifice. You see a person who is also a sacrifice. What Christ said, you are mine. Everything that you are, will be given to me. Beloved, we have to realize that it is not different with any other person. When our Lord Jesus Christ takes over your life, when He comes through His Holy Spirit and brings you back to life, and He says, you belong to Me, then He says, you can keep something back for yourself. He says, as you read in Romans 12, Give your whole life as a living and holy sacrifice to God. Everything that I am, everything that I have, everything that I do, is a sacrifice to the God who saved me, to my Savior. That is what my life is. It's a sign that every single one of us has to live exactly like Paul is. That you have to travel from village to village and you can't be settled in one place. There are other servants of the Lord who will see examples in the Scriptures where it happens in a different way than with Paul. But you still have to say, that if I am established at one place, then here where I am now, and what I am doing here, here you have to be a part of my sacrifice to the Lord. And it comes through to every little part of your life. Think about it, when we raise our children, then what do we say with that? We say, we want to raise the children for the Lord. They are for the Lord. He gave them to us and we want to make them great for Him. Not for me. Because you can easily do it this way. The next generation is almost a sacrifice to yourself. I am the Lord, I am the Master, I am the Owner. And the children are there for me. For my benefit. Then you missed the point. You don't realize that everything you are and everything you do has to be for the Lord. And so we also have to think that when I am busy with my children, what I do with them has to be aimed at the Lord. It has to open up something for them, like, look how big the Lord is when we are out in the creation. And it shows them in the small of the small and the big of the big that the Lord has made. What can I do? I can't tell them, but look how big the creation is. Look how beautiful it is. Instead of saying, look how good and beautiful the Creator has made everything. And He is the One you call to follow. Child raising is also part of your sacrifice. But it is not just child raising. It is also in your marriage. Those of us who are married, what is marital life? This state is part of my sacrifice to the Lord. The way I deal with my wife, or the way I deal with my husband, is part of my sacrifice to the Lord. I do this in the first place for the Lord. And not in the first place for him or her. In the first place for the Lord. And it means that when my wife or your husband doesn't do what they should do, Then you can start doing what you have to do. Because you are doing this for the Lord. You are doing this in the first place because they did something for you first. You are doing this in the first place because the Lord did something for you first. And that is why you live for your wife and honor your husband. Because he is a sacrifice to the Lord your God. When we talk about our work. And it should also be placed in that framework. My work, whatever I do, is not something that I do for myself. It also has to be about the way I do my work, how I do my work in a moral way, the intensity of my work, my principles, my standards. Everything I do has to be for the Lord. To be a part of the Lord as a sacrifice. But dear ones, we also have to say... and my eye for the Lord, I want you to hear people from him. My mouth, I must be busy to bring sacrifices in his sin. We also sing this. We sing that I want to bring sacrifices for him of song. I want to bring sacrifices of song to the Lord. When we are so together and we sing, then we are busy with sacrifice service. It's like when I talk to someone at a shop. I think about how this meeting can be a sacrifice to the Lord. How can I do this meeting in such a way that I can say after this time, praise the Lord, here is the sacrifice that I bring to you. This meeting was also one with which I wanted to honor the Lord. So don't just talk to people about daikies and daikies. Talk to them about Jesus. Talk to them about the Gospel. Talk to them about the King of Kings. It's part of our service to the Lord. And now it's starting to look a bit different, the printing. Why did Paul use it? Why is he in need of financial resources? Because he is making sacrifices. He is making sacrifices. He is not making tents to build more and more for himself and to build a kingdom for himself. He has taken radical decisions. to live this way, and it will cost you certain things. It will cost you, as a Christian people, to calculate the costs. But what we do see, Even though he had times of abundance, times of humiliation, even though he had times of hunger, it's not easy, it doesn't cost anything. And times of abundance, even though he had times of lack, and even though he didn't have the means to take care of himself as people would like. The Lord was working in him through all these things. through his work on his people. He says that he learned to be content. It's not something that came by itself. It's something that I have to encourage you to do, when you say, but I struggle so much to be content. It's difficult for me to be content. Well, the Lord practiced it for Paul. He taught him to be content. I think those two thoughts, that I taught him to be content in verse 11, and I am able to do everything through Christ who gives me strength, read those two together. It is through Christ who gives him strength that he learned to be content. I would not have learned this myself. It is Christ who worked powerfully in me to finally teach me to be more and more content. In the circumstances in which I am. But it took practice. He had to practice in holiness. So here you see, when you pass by the house and you look around, you see a person. And you see a person who is a sacrifice to the Lord. And then you hear the call to yourself, as an individual. You are also called. Your life will be sacrificed as a sacrifice to the Lord. You as an individual must be a living and holy sacrifice to the Lord. Because He has grabbed you for Himself. If you want to hold yourself back, then it does not work. It is not a reasonable worship service. If Christ gave His life to buy you for Himself, then you can no longer deny Him. That does not fit. That is not a reasonable worship service. He bought you. You are now His. That is how it works. And if someone would try to reason, no. No, I still have the story to tell about my life. Because I don't belong in the voice of someone who says, Christ bought me. That doesn't fit. It doesn't fit together to say, everything is still mine and Christ bought me. It's not reasonable. It doesn't fit. So when you realize what Christ has done for you and to you, then it must spontaneously overflow. Well, then it certainly means that I belong to Him and everything I am is His and my whole life is a sacrifice to the Lord. Everything I am, everything I have, is to pray. But now let's look at the other group. At the community, Philippians. And then we see that the municipality in Filippi was the only municipality, I don't understand why, but they were the only municipality in all of Paulus' time of service that helped him financially. And they couldn't do it on their own. For a long time he had to make his own plans for his maintenance and care. But for some reason, of all the municipalities, the municipality in Philippi was the only one that sent financial aid to him. Paul said, you did good when you took part in my oppression. Let us be a faithful community. A religious community is not one that says, there is my brother, there is my sister, show yourself, oppression, die. I hope you come back. I hope you... I won't think about it. No. A religious community is one where those who have sorrow, should not only have sorrow. Those who go through oppression, don't have to go through oppression alone. You have to feel it in your skin, if you live in a community. If I see how my neighbor is suffering, then I have to suffer with him. If my neighbor is crying, then I have to cry with him. If my neighbor is happy, then I have to be happy with him. If someone goes through oppression, then I want to be with them in the oppression. And that is what Paulus says here, that you have participated in my oppression. This was not something of a community that has a million Rand in the bank account. And now they say, come and support us, we get every month so many thousand Rand in interest. We're not going to miss it, we're not going to feel it. So come and support us for that amount. No, they went into oppression together. With the realization of what is the bigger picture, what is going on here. They didn't go into oppression together to help, to live in sin. They went into oppression together to promote the gospel of the kingdom of Christ. So let's see how Paul also names this. He says, it is a loving gift, a benevolent sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. As we said at the beginning, this is the sacrifice language. It is the language that God uses when the people come and bring their sacrifices. And the sacrifice animal is bound and sat on the altar, and the sacrifice animal is burned. and the smoke goes up to the Lord, then the Lord says, it is a loving gift. The gift of His human sacrifice. Of the people who are redeemed by the blood. Their sacrifice is a loving gift. And so we also come, not only as individuals, But also as a religious community, on the ground of the blood that has flowed, that we have shared with God, bring us also our sacrifices. Bring us also our fire sacrifices, bring us also our thanksgiving to the Lord. A loving gift, a benevolent sacrifice, wellbeing to God. Do you know, this is a gripping picture that it paints. God is so holy that it almost feels like people are not even allowed to say it. But what is happening here is that God is looking at the victims and He is smiling. And He is happy. And He is enjoying it. He is radiating joy over the victims that are being brought. Will there live in your heart a love for this God? A desire for this God. That He is my everything. And you need more than this to encourage yourself to live for Him. If you just hear, but if you do this, then for him it is a loving gesture. It is from well-being, it is from well-being. He looks down at it and he says, beautiful son, I enjoyed it. This is lovely. It is a pleasant gesture that comes to me. Then your heart must wake up a little. Good, how can I do it again? How can I do this more and more? Because this is what my life is about. It is for Him. It is a sacrifice for Him. Sometimes these two individuals, when you walk past their house. You look through the window and you see Paulus. You look to the other side and you see the community in Philippi. But in a way you see the same thing. You see sacrifices. You see a person as an individual who is sacrificing to the Lord. But you see, it's not just an individual matter. You see how the community as a whole is busy bringing sacrifices to the Lord. This is how we should ask ourselves, what are we doing? Not only what am I doing in my life, in my priorities, in my work. But also, what are we doing as a community, as a religious community? We are doing our best to make sacrifices. Are we, as a community, praying to the Lord as a religious community? On the day of the Lord? Yes, that is the main point. But not only here at the service of the Lord. Also in the rest of our community life, in this community. Where you live, from where you live away. But there you also have to be busy bringing sacrifices to the Lord, that you have to give generously. I can tell you that something is about to happen. In our community, in our area, where the Lord has placed us, there is a light that shines. There is salt in the community. My dear, it does not mean that Paul's sacrifice was equal in one way. Others' sacrifices were equal in another way. And so it makes a difference, from family to family, that some get involved in this thing, in the community. They will say, well, we stay here, close to the trunk. How can we serve in the trunk? How can we get involved there? To serve the gospel there, and that our time and our gifts are used there. Come then. Come then, if you feel that I am too eager for this thing, come and let us do it. If it's about something else, then you realize that there is a whole dwelling nest in our environment. How can we work properly when it comes to these people who are dealing with the dwellings? Come on, make the plans and let's start working concretely in the community. Can't it be that this community is one? Because if the gentlemen would take the candelabra away, the community wouldn't even notice. There was actually still all the time when the light was hidden under a mat. It must really be that it gets darker when these communities would go away. The light must shine, and it shines through how we speak, it shines through how we live, and how we live as a family, and how we live with our children, and the consequences that follow, but also in the things that we do in the environment. May everything that we are, everything that we do, a loving gift, a benevolent sacrifice, be pleasant to God. It is a reasonable service of God. It is reasonable to live this way, because we know that Christ is the redemption for us from God. He is the sacrifice of sin. And the reasonable is that it has to make our hearts happy, it has to make us happy, it has to make us move to service, to worship. It has to bring a joy in our lives. May the Lord give us strength in our work, so that we can honor and serve Him. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, We want to praise our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus, who became human, and took all our sins upon Himself, and completely came into all these buildings, so that His works will be accounted for by us, and our sins will be completely taken away and paid for by Him. So that we can stand in front of you as people who are just. That we are justified by faith. Not by work. What a grace it is. That where He was called from heaven for Abraham, When he was about to kill Isaac, he had to stop and put a window in his place. There was no one who stopped. When you, your own son, who had only love, only love, sacrificed as a complete sacrifice for us, Oh Father, may these things not just be cold facts, which roll off our hearts like water from a young boy's back. But give, give your Holy Spirit, oh Father, work through the Spirit, that these holy facts will penetrate our hearts. That it will not again be an act of treason. That we will not again be conquered and conquered for you and for your kingdom. That we will be conquered for worship and sacrifice. Because Father, it is for our heart's sake to say this, We easily forget the bigger picture. We easily forget what everything is for. Do you remember us again? So that we can feel rejuvenated. About our loved ones. About our families. About our friendships. About our work. For our involvement in the communities in our village. That we will live as living victims. I want to move our community. That we, as a community, will be light that shines clearly. The light of the Gospel will be heard and seen. We pray for everyone who is heavily burdened. Who is going through trials. We think of those who are sick. I think of those who are very brave, who feel as if they are in a muddy well. I call to you and ask that you put them back on solid ground. We pray for those who have fallen back into their faith, who have fallen back into old sins. Dear Father, I want to look for them again, like a lost sheep. And bring them back. So that they can enjoy your peace. Give us hope, dear Father. Give us a sword. Give us the authority to serve you. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us sing now Psalm 4, verse 1.