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Welcome to Alpine Bible Church. This is a special Sunday. Um. For reasons that in this moment aren’t necessarily happy. Um, but this is my last Sunday with you all at ABC. Um, Tuesday. Uh, Greg and myself will be loading our family up and driving down. We’re moving to, um, Saint George. Um, we’ve clearly heard God calling us and and seen his directing in our lives to to take us there. Um, so it is with, um, with heavy hearts that we say goodbye, but also with, um, with great joy. I have learned and grown immensely in my six years here. Um, at at ABC, it has been an honor to be able to serve. Um, to serve you all and to serve alongside you all. Um, to to teach your kids on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings and be able to to enjoy. Um, crazy things like playing ultimate frisbee with an octopus instead of a Frisbee. Um, to be able to enjoy those things as well as the one on one conversations. Um, has really been a blessing to me. Um, so me and Nathaniel first sat down in his office, and we’re kind of going over what the last, um, few weeks would look like here at ABC. We decided that it was a a good idea for me to to preach kind of a farewell sermon. And as I was thinking about it, I also have a tendency to to think that I have infinitely more time than I do.
Um, which I guess there’s actually a mental disorder that has a name for that, but I don’t know what it is, but I have it. Um, because I thought it would be a good idea to do a youth retreat last weekend. Um, teach my last night of of youth group Wednesday night. Uh, and then have the night of worship last night and then preach this morning. Um, so it was it was a little bit much. And so as I was thinking, what should I preach on? Um, in my heart, I just kind of wanted to read John 1135 where it says, Jesus wept and then be like, I want to be like Jesus, and then just cry. Um, for 35 minutes. But I don’t know how edifying that would be for you all just to watch me, me cry for 35 minutes. Um, although if you know me, you know that it’s a very real possibility. Um, so, so as I thought a little bit further beyond, you know, what my initial thought was, because that wasn’t going to work. Um, I thought of the book of Philippians. Uh, Paul wrote the book of Philippians. And if you read all of Paul’s epistles in the New Testament, Philippians is the only epistle he wrote to a church that he wasn’t correcting a false doctrine or poor behavior. He was really just writing to encourage the the church to to keep on keeping on. Um, he wanted to write to the church in Philippians to, to, uh, thank them for what they’ve been doing and, and then encourage them to continue on.
He didn’t have to correct, um, uh, heresy like in Galatians or Corinthians and things like that. And so I thought maybe that would be a good book. And then as I, as I was reading through Philippians again and studying, uh, Philippians two, uh, just stood out to me. And if there’s one thing that I want to leave with ABC, if there’s one thing that I want you to remember that I’ve taught you, it’s Philippians chapter two. So if you want, go ahead and turn there. Um, Philippians chapter two. We’re going to start in verse one, and we’re going to read through verse eight. Philippians chapter two, verse one. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The last thing that I would. Implore you is to to take Philippians two to heart. Um, for ABC to, um, flourish and thrive. Um, like God would ask us to do, it’s going to take this mindset. Um, the first thing that Paul tells the church is he says, he says, is the church needs to be unified of one mind. He says of one mind. Um, in one accord, in full accord of mind. Um, being of the same mind, same love. Uh, it’s a picture of unity. Today’s world is full of disunity. And so a body that is fully unified in thought, mind and deed stands as a beacon of light. Paul tells us in Romans 15 five through six he says, May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another. In accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unity in the church stands out and it points to Christ. Even if you just take a sample of ABC and look at our leadership team and look at the the diversity that really makes up the leadership team at ABC. If you were to to look at us on the street, we wouldn’t go together. It doesn’t fit. Our backgrounds don’t match up.
We shouldn’t be in the same place at the same time. But seeking to serve God has brought us together and brought us a unity in decision making in our in our walks with Christ. It gives us unity and in that it’s different than the world looks. The world says you find people that that look like you act like you talk like you make you feel good and you be around them. And that’s okay. But the church says, come as you are, whoever you are, and we’re going to be one body unified together. And when people come from the outside and see that. It shines as a light, as something different. Something is happening here in this building with these people that I’ve not seen. The Greek word that Paul uses in Romans for harmony with one another is fronto, and it’s the same word that he is translated as same mind in Philippians. And it carries the idea that that not only are we unified and well, we want the same ultimate end goal, but even even our thought processes, because we are so, so focused on on Christ and our relationship with him, that even our thought processes become the same. And how we think, how we look at the world around us, how we interact with people becomes one, and we become unified as a body. As a as a whole, ABC and really any church for that matter, not just ABC, should look like a group of individuals, shouldn’t look sorry, like a group of individuals that happen to go to the same place for church.
It shouldn’t look like a group of people that just meet but live totally separate lives apart from each other, with no interaction, with no connection, with no, um, unifying force behind it. It should look like a siphonophore. If you’ve never heard of a Siphonophore, it’s one of my favorite things in the world. It’s not a musical instrument. When I first heard the word, that’s what I thought because I thought it sounded like maybe like some combination of a saxophone and something else. But that’s not what it is. It’s actually it’s a it’s an oceanic animal, and it’s actually a group of animals. They’re all different organisms, but they live so closely together and intertwined that you can’t actually tell that there’s multiple organisms. It looks just like one. One organism that’s in the colony may be responsible for, for the movement of the creature. The other may be responsible for for trapping food and getting food. Another would be responsible for the digestion of that food, and they all share in this experience. Um, jellyfish. There are some actual things that we would actually refer to as jellyfish that aren’t actually jellyfish. They’re a siphonophore really interesting, very cool. If you study them, it’s crazy, but that’s what the church should look like, that we’re so closely intertwined and dependent on one another that you can’t necessarily tell that we aren’t one.
And as I think back, especially on this last year, that that me and Gretchen have gone through, we were wholly and totally dependent on the church, with Greg’s health, with my job, with with so many things going on, if it wasn’t for the help and support of the family here at ABC, bringing meals, watching our kids, taking Greg into doctor’s appointments, whatever that might be, even at all hours of the night when I would have to call somebody at 2 a.m. because I had to take Greg into the hospital, people stepping up and coming in and helping and supporting in a unified way. That’s what the church should look like. And when that happens. It stands out. And like it says in Romans, it brings glory to God when people see that. At work, as people would ask me, you know, how things were going and what was happening in my life. Um, knowing all the things that were going on, they would continue to remark, I just don’t know how you do it. And I would continue to remark, I do it by the grace of God, and I do it because I have an awesome church family that loves me and loves Jesus. Um, so even even though you don’t know in this room, you don’t know any of my former coworkers. Um, you had an impact on their life because you were unified in one body. And that’s what Paul’s telling us.
We need to have that same purpose. One goal, one mind. Society is all about self. It’s all about what can gratify you in that moment for that time. And so when you, you see a group of people that aren’t thinking about self. It stands out. And that’s what Paul tells us is how do we do that? How do we become unified? In verses three and four he says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. See, as a church. As Christians, we need to understand that life isn’t about us. My. My marriage is not about me. My job is not about me. My my positions of service in the church are not about me. Life is not about me. In order for us to be unified, there has to be humility. James chapter three, verses 14 through 16 says, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder and every vile practice. See, as a church, we need to be distinct, because what what James tells us is that out of selfishness comes disorder. Comes every vile thing. When you think about sin and even sin in your own life, sin ultimately boils down to a self pride issue, a selfishness issue.
And James says, don’t let that be associated with with you. Instead. What what is associated with the church should be wisdom that comes down from above, which is humility. The opposite of humility cannot be associated with the church. Without humility comes sin. And that’s what Paul tells us in Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one, verses 20 through 25. Paul says his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, speaking of God, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. The very creation that we live in and interact with points to Jesus and points to God. And he goes on and he says in verse 21, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. You see. This is written to the church in Rome, but it could very well be written to us today when we take and put self in the place of God, and put our self and our interests, and our purposes and our desires ahead of God and and ahead of others, sin comes in.
In verses 21 through 23, he says that they exchanged God. They knew who God was, but they didn’t honor him that way, and they put themselves in that place. And then in 24, the result of that is God gave them up in the lust of their heart and impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies. See, when we try and elevate ourselves, the only thing that can result is sin. When we try and put ourselves on a pedestal, whether that be through self righteous living and looking at ourselves as better than we are, when that is a lack of humility and serving others, and we must be first all the time, the only thing that can result is sin. The result of humility. Is unity. When you read the Bible and people that humbled themselves selflessly instead of elevating themselves and living selfishly. You think of people like Esther who put her life on the line for her people. She went before the king without being called, which was a death sentence in her day. You think about Abraham, who gave up everything that he knew to follow God to a place he didn’t even know where he was going.
He just said, okay, I’ll follow. That’s humility. You think about Noah, who built a giant boat in the desert. Before there had been rain. Who does that? Somebody who’s willing to think less of themselves and not concern themselves with what other people are saying about them, but more concerned about God. Or even you think about more recently, people like Elisabeth Elliot, who after her husband went as a missionary to the jungles in South America and the tribes people murdered him. She goes back to the very same people to preach the gospel. I think myself. I don’t know if I could do that. To risk my life. But to risk my life to to teach people about Jesus who killed my spouse. I mean, that’s kind of what God called Jonah to do. And he ran to the other side of the world. He said, Jonah, you go to Nineveh. And he said, no, they’re evil. They hate us. I don’t want them to repent. God says, well, why wouldn’t you go? And he says, after, after this, everything happens. And he gets swallowed by by the whale and spit back up on land. And he goes to Nineveh, and he preaches and the city repents, and he’s out pouting on a hill. And God says, Jonah, what are you doing? Why are you mad? He’s like, this is I didn’t want to preach to him because I knew they would repent and I knew you’d forgive them.
That’s selfish. But Elizabeth Elliott, who goes and preaches the gospel despite the danger and despite the fact that these people took the life of her husband. Humbled herself to serve them. That mindset of humility only comes from one place, and that’s what Paul tells us in. Verses five through eight. If we want this unity, if we want this humility of mind, if we want this service attitude, it can only come from one place. And he says in verse five, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. There can be no greater example of humility shown to us than God Himself. Coming and dying. For the enemy. It’s what Romans tells us, says that while we were enemies with God, Christ died for us. Humility isn’t just serving when it’s easy or serving the people that it’s easy to serve because there are people that it’s easy to serve. That’s not humility. Humility is serving the people that it’s not easy to serve. And that’s what Christ did. He came. He left heaven. All day. He’s just sitting there while the seraphim sing praise and tell him how amazing he is and how beautiful he is, how glorious he is, and how powerful he is.
And he gives all that up and he comes to earth. And he experiences hunger. Thirst. Pain, heartache. Anxiety. Temptation. Abandonment, and he goes through all of that knowing that at the end of all of this, he still has to suffer the cross. God in human flesh humbled himself and came to serve you. And as a church. That’s the attitude that Paul is telling us to have. Doesn’t matter who you are. Humble yourself and serve. Romans chapter 12, verses one and two are probably the most familiar out of that passage for us. Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. And be transformed by the renewing of your mind. But he goes on and the rest of that chapter, and he tells us what that looks like. If we’re really transformed by God, it starts with ourselves and a mindset change. But then he goes on and tells us how we really live together. Verse three says, I say to everyone among you not to think more of himself more highly than he ought to think. And he goes on in verse nine and ten he says, let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
The King James translate translates, outdo one another in showing honor and outdo one another and showing preference to each other. It’s it’s the idea in verses one and two that we, we determined to change our mindsets and lay ourselves down. And then we build on that idea in humility and laying ourself down and not just serving Jesus, but serving others. To prefer others ahead of ourselves to to give them preference. It’s. When you’re at the party and it’s the last slice of pizza in the box, right? You just take it for yourself and don’t even ask, right. That’s I mean, that’s the go to I. I’ve been teaching youth for ten years. That’s the go to. Right. Nobody else matters when there’s food involved. As long as I get it, it’s all good. And like, you’ll see kids that are the most gentle, nice, soft spoken kids. Once the pizza breaks out, or the cake or brownies or whatever, it’s like, I don’t care, just give me the food. And there’s like, they’re pulling, they’re shoving, they’re fighting. They just they’re not preferring others. Right. And hey. Guilty, right. I made my brother bleed at the dinner table because he tried to take food off my plate before, like so. Guilty, right? Not showing preference. Not not going to hide. Hide that I stabbed him with my fork. But even in the little things like standing in line for for food, showing preference towards one another, and we should try and outdo each other in showing preference, whether it’s something little like.
I’m not trying to park as close as we can possibly park and take the best parking spot or something. Maybe as big as joining a one of our volunteer teams here at ABC. We need to show preference to one another and realize church isn’t about us. We don’t come to church for us, we come to church for other people. And I know sometimes we come and, um, we need encouragement and we need lift it up and we have nothing to give. Um, but in coming and being open in that brokenness. Is a way of serving others because you’re coming and showing them that you need help. And it gives them the opportunity to serve you. One of the hardest lessons that I’ve had to learn in this last year. I’ve always been my entire life. I’ve always been the one doing and going and helping and serving, and God’s really been working on my pride this year and having me to admit that, um, I need help and being willing to be broken in front of people and say that I can’t do this on my own. I’m not Superman. And in that God was able to just encourage my heart and teach me that humility isn’t just about service. Sometimes humility is about being served. So I don’t know what camp you fall in today. Whether you’re you’re not acting in humility because you’re not willing to serve, or if you’re not acting in humility because you’re not allowing other people to pour into your life and serve you.
But God calls us to lay down ourselves and have that same mindset that Christ had and humbly serve. Philippians goes on in verse 14 and 15. And reminds us why we serve. And it says do all things without grumbling or disputing. There shouldn’t be complaints or dissension over non-essential things. He says that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Unity and not arguing over the petty little things, not looking out for number one, but looking out for others. It says. Is different than the twisted generation that we live in. And as a result, at the end of verse 15. Among whom you shine as lights in the world. Being unified and setting aside our differences and preferring others over ourselves allows our light collectively to shine in the community. Six and a half years ago. Um. When I moved out here, I would never have guessed that I would be here six and a half years later. Um, but as I as I came to the end of the year that I had agreed I would come and help for a year and then I would be moving on. God just made it very clear that I wasn’t supposed to leave. I needed to stay. And as I began to, to get more involved and more intertwined with the people here at ABC and what God was doing through this church, if you would have asked me five years ago.
I would have never guessed that I would be here preaching my last sermon at ABC, because I knew that God was. I was going to be here till I died. I was going to give everything that I had and. And I wasn’t going to leave. Literally poured my blood, sweat and tears into this place. Um, you know, putting the the steel bracing up here with Nathaniel. Um, and dealing with the discouragement of the homeless man that told us our church looked terrible and we should just burn it down and get the insurance money. Um, sweating through that labor. Um, hanging drywall in the toddlers room. I slipped and stabbed myself with a drill and bled. Um, in the literally blood, sweat. And, I mean, you’ve been around for any amount of time. You know how much I cry. So, you know, literally blood, sweat and tears were poured into this place. And if you would have asked me, I would have said, no, I’m dying here. I will give everything possible. Before I would leave ABC. In my pride, I said that. Um. But God has a way of. Fixing our pride and and bringing us low and humbling us. Because in my pride, I also said I was never going to move to Utah. Um, so you thought I would learn my lesson then? But.
I’m not a shining example of humility. You can ask my wife. You can ask my kids. Um. Kaylee might not understand the word humility yet, but if you explained it to her, she’d probably tell you. Oh, yeah, daddy doesn’t do that sometimes. Um. But my prayer is that. In what service I have given. You would be encouraged in humility. Um. I don’t want you to go away thinking that I have attained this humility and service. But I’d rather you. You’d go away thinking that I say, as Paul does in Philippians chapter three, where he says that not that I have already attained, but I press on. I’m not there yet. I’m still learning. But I ask that you, as ABC would remain unified, that you would remain connected, that you would humbly serve. Each other, your spouse, your neighbors. Your community that through your humility and through your service, God would be glorified. And that the work that was started here at ABC would continue on, and that a legacy of service. And unity in a people that are of one mind would rain. When people hear of Alpine Bible Church, that they would think of a group of people who do not look out for herself, but have one mind and one accord serving Christ.