You Want Me to Do WHAT?!?! - Philippians 4:1-9

Sermon Series: Partners in Christ

My freshman year of college I tried out for the NC State cheerleading squad and was fortunate enough to make the team. Then after making the team our coach assigned us with a partner who we would work with for the entire year – for football games, basketball games, and for practice every night. As a young, immature 18 year old who understood very little about cheerleading I was hoping for a partner who met two criteria: cute and light. And I lucked out! I got one who was both. I was partnered with a girl named Jenn who was probably the second smallest girl on the team and probably weighed 95 pounds. Jenn was a good first partner for me. She had great balance so she could save certain stunts even if I hadn’t caught her feet very well and because she was so little I could hold her up longer than I could some of the other girls. But at the same time, looking back now with a much more mature perspective and a better knowledge of cheerleading, I’m able to see where I was limited somewhat with Jenn as a partner. While Jenn had extraordinary balance she wasn’t the strongest girl on the team or the most athletic girl on the team. (That wouldn’t have limited some of the other guys on the team who were all closer to six feet tall and those who were stronger than I was – they had advantages over me in both size and leverage that allowed them to do stunts with Jenn that I could not.) Jenn’s lack of strength and athleticism meant that I had to do more of the work as I tossed her into the air. So while I could toss her well and catch her high – there were certain stunts that I just never could hit with her.

At the end of my freshman year our coach assigned each person with a new partner for the summer. Along with that new partner she also assigned us with a stunt that she wanted us to be able to hit together when we returned in the fall. For that particular summer I was partnered with Stacy. Stacy was a rising senior who had way more experience cheering and stunting than either myself or Jenn – which was a huge pro. But at the time she had other traits that I thought were huge cons. Stacy was several inches taller than Jenn. In fact she was almost as tall as I was (which meant I would have less leverage to toss her). Stacy was also much stronger and much more athletic then Jenn, which translated into more weight. Now Stacy wasn’t a big girl by any means, but rather than being 95 pounds she was probably closer to 105 pounds. Still very light, but 10 pounds more than I was used to. So I was really doubtful about my own ability to stunt with Stacy. Then our coach assigned us with a stunt that I had never even believed I could hit with Jenn – it was a stunt that required a lot of strength, coordination, athleticism, and timing. And it was a stunt that only the best guys on the team could do. I can still remember thinking to myself with our coach assigned us that stunt, “You want me to do what?!?!” There was no way we were going to hit that stunt. Reason one – I could never toss Stacy high enough to complete that stunt. Reason two – Stacy lived in Raleigh and I was living in Charlotte and we wouldn’t have any time to work on it. So in major loser fashion I just wrote it off. I gave up on me, I gave up on Stacy, I gave up on any chance of us hitting that stunt together, and I just resolved to come back in the fall unable to hit the stunt that our coach assigned us.

Years later I look back on that summer with an enormous amount of shame. In that moment in which our coach assigned us a new partner and a new stunt I absolutely failed to realize all that was going on. First, I missed what my cheerleading coach was up to. She saw in me the potential to be one of the best guys on the team, so she assigned to me one of the hardest stunts for any guy to do. Second, she knew that I could not do that stunt by my own ability – my strength and size weren’t enough. So she gave me a gracious gift – a stronger, more athletic partner. I didn’t realize that at the time. At the time I saw a taller, heavier girl and saw her as a hindrance to hitting the stunt. But with a better understanding of how stunting works and knowing what a strong girl is capable of I now know the error of that thinking. A stronger girl with greater leg strength and greater athleticism can jump a lot higher and make the tossing process a lot easier. Stacy was strong enough that she was able to do most of the work of the initial toss with her leg strength alone. All I would have had to do was simply speed her up and finish the toss off. So now I look back with great shame because I was too shocked by the request of my coach to understand what she believed I was capable of and to realize how she was helping me by equipping me with a partner who would enable me to do that stunt. I gave up entirely when I could have realized the gift I had been given and made an effort to make it work. My grandparents lived in Raleigh and I was working as a life guard. I could have lived in Raleigh for free and found a job doing exactly what I was doing in Charlotte. I could have spent my free time working with Stacy and practicing until we hit our assigned stunt. But instead I gave up on my coach’s plan and I gave up on my partner (who had the strength and the ability to enable me to accomplish it).

I share this story because we are going to be looking at a portion of Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi that is loaded with commands – commands that are extraordinarily hard to keep. In fact when we give some consideration to these commands the question that comes to mind for most of us will be, “You want me to do what?!?!” And as a result, our tendency is going to be to do one of two things. We are going to either write them off and give up believing that we can’t fulfill them to the degree and extent to which God calls us, or we are going to try to do them in our own self-righteousness and fail miserably - neither of which is a good outcome. But I want to encourage you to remember as we begin to examine this list of commands that while God has given us hard commands, He has also given those of us who are believers in Christ a partner who can enable and empower us to keep those commands just as God has given them to us. When we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God begins to reside in our lives in the form of the Holy Spirit. God, Himself, is with us. He is our partner and it is by His strength that He enables us to keep the hard commands He gives us. So here’s my plea as we begin our examination of this text. Don’t give up on these commands! But more importantly, don’t give up on your partner! He can and will empower you to do what you don’t think you can.

The passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi which we are going to examine this week begins with a transitional verse. Paul had just finished exhorting the church at Philippi (his partners in Christ) to “join in imitating him” and to keep their eyes fixed on those who walk as Christ-like examples (3:17). You’ll recall that Paul went on to warn the church that there were those who had positioned themselves around and amongst the church who were living self-centered, self-indulgent lives. While they had professed faith in Christ, the way they lived their lives stood in strong contrast to the message of the cross. As we mentioned in our examination of the text of 3:17-21, the message of the cross speaks volumes about the reality of sin and about God’s attitude toward sin. If people were by nature good and if the desires of their hearts and the pursuit of those desires were not inherently sinful then Jesus’ death on the cross would not have been necessary. And if sin wasn’t a big deal to God and was something that God could simply overlook and brush off then the gruesome and horrific death of Jesus wasn’t something that was necessary – it would actually declare God to be an unloving and barbaric deity. But that isn’t at all what the message of the cross proclaims. The message of the cross reveals to us that the desires of our hearts and the pursuit of those desires caused us to sin and separated us from God. The message of the cross declares that God takes sin incredibly seriously and that the just punishment for sin is the full measure of God’s wrath. And the message of the cross declares that God, out of a desire to restore that which humanity had corrupted and to fulfill His promise to rescue humanity from their sin and its consequences, sent His one and only righteous Son to die as our substitute and to receive the full measure of God’s wrath (which we deserved) upon Himself, so that we might receive forgiveness and cleansing from our sin, and reconciliation with God the Father. Paul warned the church at Philippi that there were those around and amongst the church who proclaimed to be followers of Christ but who were still pursuing their own desires and indulging in their own appetites. Instead of pursuing a relationship with the One who had come to rescue them from their sin they were actually pursuing sin. Paul called these individuals “enemies of the cross.” But that title didn’t mean that their lifestyle didn’t have a certain appeal to it - that’s why Paul warned the church against them. True believers in Christ would be characterized like Paul as those pressing “on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:14), rather than those who continued to pursue their own self-centered desires. The church at Philippi needed to look to Paul and the other examples they had of individuals pressing on to know Christ more and who were continuously working out their salvation with fear and trembling (2:12) and they needed to imitate them.

As chapter 4 begins Paul is going to giving some other important instructions to the church at Philippi, but in order to make the transition from the instructions he has just given to the ones he is going to give he writes, “Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved” (4:1). Paul has a deep and abiding love for the church at Philippi and wanted to make sure that he gave these instructions, not in the context of an authority figure who was looking to bring those under him into conformity with his own wishes, but in the context of one who was equal to them and who, because of his love for them, wanted them to continue to stand firm in and remain in Christ. Because the church at Philippi (as well as the church today) had its citizenship in heaven (3:20), was opposed by enemies of the cross (3:18), and had a call to be united in one mind and Spirit, it could not exist or thrive in a divided state – those who made up the church at Philippi had to stand firm together and had to live collectively in a way that put flesh on their faith.

Paul begins his instructions in chapter 4 by addressing two women specifically. “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life” (vs. 2-3). Paul’s inclusion of these two women and their dispute in his letter to the church at Philippi reveals several important things. First, the inclusion of these ladies’ names, along with the description that they had labored side by side with Paul in the gospel, tells us that these ladies probably weren’t insignificant women only known by a few individuals. The specific mention of these women suggests that they were both important leaders and influential individuals in the church at Philippi. Second, the inclusion of their dispute (even though no specifics are given) tells us that the dispute wasn’t just a small, insignificant one, but rather a dispute that was resulting in division amongst the whole church. A small, insignificant problem between two insignificant women would have never warranted mentioning in Paul’s letter. G. Walter Hansen says it this way, “If their personal squabble was an unusual occurrence within a basically unified church, then pointing to them by name seems to be unjustified and inexplicable. Why would Paul speak to these two women so urgently if their conflict did not have any impact on the church?” So Paul’s specific mention of these ladies and their dispute suggests that it was a problem between influential leaders that was having tremendous ripple effects throughout the church as a whole. Paul interrupts his letter to the church as a whole to ask these women specifically to put into practice what he has been calling the whole church to. Paul exhorted the church at Philippi in 2:2-4, “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count one another more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Paul never suggests that these women were not sincere believers in Jesus or that they didn’t have a genuine love for Jesus. In fact the opposite is quite true. Paul suggests that they were genuine partners in Christ with him and that they had labored together out of love for Christ to advance the good news of the gospel. But apparently some rift had arisen between these women – a rift that probably had more to do with their own personal pursuits or desires rather than theological or doctrinal issues. So Paul calls them back to the place where they had once found agreement and where they had once been able to labor side by side with one another – “agree in the Lord.” Paul was calling these two women to re-focus on Christ; to re-focus on the work of reconciliation that had been accomplished through the cross; and to re-focus on making the pursuit of Christ their primary goal (in place of whatever selfish pursuits they had begun to pursue). Paul knew that in making Christ central in their lives these women could experience reconciliation with one another and once again labor side-by-side without causing divisions in the church. Their lives could once again be marked by the humility of Christ and a common mind and spirit that was “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (1:27).

However, it also appears that Paul believed these women would need some help in getting back to this place. (Another indication of how deep the division must have been between these two women.) Paul makes a request in verse 3 to his “true companion” to help these women in their reconciliation processes. It’s unclear from the text who this ‘true companion’ is (perhaps Timothy, Epaphroditus, or possibly even a metaphorical reference to the whole church at Philippi), but what is clear is the significance of the role that Paul was asking his companion to play. When this particular verb to “help” shows up in other places in the NT it has a strong sense of physical action to it. It literally means to “seize,” or “to take (in the sense of taking someone or something captive)” and it is used in reference to the arrest of Jesus (Matt 26:55; Mark 14:48; Luke 22:54; and John 18:12), the arrest of Peter (Acts 12:3), the catch of fish in Luke 5:9 and to the help of the disciples to pull in the nets just two verses earlier. This is the only time we see Paul use this powerful verb in his own letters and it suggests that Paul is looking for his companion to personally take hold of these women to help draw them back together. The reconciliation of these women was important for their own sakes, but also for the health and vibrancy of the church moving forward, so that the division they were creating could be healed and everyone once again be on the same page as they strived together for the faith of the gospel.

Moving into verse 4 Paul directs his attention back to the church of Philippi as a whole and in quick order rattles off several additional commands that are important for the church to own and live out. Paul lists these commands in a series, so the challenge for us as readers is to give adequate attention to each of the commands and not allowing some of the commands located in either the middle or at the end to get lost or overlooked. The church at Philippi had to begin with the first command, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” In Paul’s mind the first of these commands has such great significance (because it sets the tone and atmosphere for the rest of the commands and because of its importance given the circumstances that the church at Philippi was experiencing) that it even calls for repeating. Two times Paul calls for the church at Philippi to ‘rejoice.’ But in light of the church’s circumstances, this must have been an incredibly difficult command to own. The church at Philippi had partnered with Paul for the ministry of the gospel but the consequences that both Paul and the church had experienced hardly seemed worth rejoicing over. Paul had been arrested and imprisoned and the church at Philippi had encountered suffering and opposition (1:28-30). Neither of those two circumstances typically move any of us to rejoicing. But Paul had taught the church at Philippi that it wasn’t their circumstances or situations that they were to rejoice in – the church was to rejoice in a person – Jesus. The work of Jesus on the cross to make payment for our sin and to reconcile us with God the Father; His power to transform our lives and to make us into new creations; and His unmatched glory, splendor, and majesty should make Jesus the object of our greatest rejoicing regardless of circumstances. As we also discovered earlier in our examination of 3:1, Paul had discerned from the OT that rejoicing in the Lord strengthened His followers in times of difficulty and trial to stand firm in the midst of those hardships (see for example Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 81:1; and Habakkuk 3:18-19). So Paul once again commands this church to rejoice in Christ. Rejoicing in Him was the appropriate response of worship, rejoicing in Him would strengthen them in the midst of their trials, and rejoicing in Him in the midst of their trials would cause them to bear witness that Christ was worthy of praise in each and every situation. So of utmost importance for the church at Philippi (as well as our church today) was to rejoice in Jesus.

In addition to rejoicing in the Lord, the church at Philippi was to “let [their] reasonableness be known to everyone” (vs. 5). The Greek word the ESV translates as ‘reasonableness’ can also be translated as ‘gentleness’ and is used to portray a person whose character is reasonable, fair, kind, and gentle. After instructing the church at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord always, Paul then implies that the overflow of that rejoicing will be the believer’s expression of reasonableness or gentleness towards all people (not simply family, friends, or other believers in Christ). In situations where the temptation would be to defend one’s own rights or to fight for one’s perception, a believer in Christ doesn’t have to insist on getting his or her way or obtaining the best possible outcome. This can be incredibly difficult because suffering and hardship challenge and test the quality of our gentleness as attacks directed toward us usually arouse defensive responses. But the object of the believer’s joy is Jesus – not the situation. It’s why we should be able to go play a game of kickball and not be overcome with anger if a call doesn’t go our way or if we lose a game. It’s why we should be able to go through an election process without being overcome by emotion or anger if the individual we voted for doesn’t get elected or a cause we voted for doesn’t pass. Our joy isn’t in winning every game and getting a championship t-shirt. Our joy isn’t in elected officials or laws that are passed. Our joy is Christ alone – and no situation in any kickball game, any election, or any other circumstance can change that. So we live out our reasonableness and gentleness among men while we rejoice in our Savior and Lord. Martin Luther once said, “Before God be glad at all times, but before men be lenient.” This is one of those things we have to strive for as a church.

Paul’s next command comes in verse 6 when he writes, “do not be anxious about anything.” The command is a present tense verb in the Greek which gives us some insight into the church’s mindset. A present tense verb like the one here indicates a continuous, on-going action. So Paul is suggesting that this church is presently living in a state of continuous anxiety and that they need to stop living in this way. The church at Philippi seemed to have a great deal to be concerned about – Paul was in prison, their friend and fellow church member, Epaphroditus, had been seriously ill for a time, and they were having to endure suffering themselves. When anyone encounters times like these the natural tendency is for them to become anxious. But notice how Paul addresses this with strong, undeniable language. He tells the church at Philippi not to be anxious about ‘anything.’ Paul doesn’t leave them with any exceptions. For the believer in Christ there is absolutely nothing that we can allow to become an object of continuous stress or worry in our lives. Paul then continues, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” An incredibly strong contrast is established with this next portion of his command. The church at Philippi was to be anxious about nothing AND was to be in prayer about everything. Now this doesn’t imply that God isn’t aware of our needs and concerns if we don’t pray about them - Matthew 6:32 says otherwise. Rather, when we establish the habit of bringing all of our concerns to God in prayer we express our complete dependence upon Him. So the church at Philippi was to be coming before God on behalf of one another, making known their needs, presenting to God all of their other requests, and doing so with an attitude and a heart of thanksgiving. This was the means by which they were to break their habit of worry. It becomes increasingly difficult to be consumed with worry and anxiety when we are in the habit of bringing everything before God with a heart of thanksgiving and praise. Paul doesn’t say that this comes naturally either. It is a discipline that we have to work at.

God makes an unbelievable promise in verse 7 to those who are working to make this a discipline in their walks with Christ, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God says that He will give the very peace which is part of His character to those individuals who instead of being anxious are bringing everything to Him in prayer. And that peace, which is a defining part of God’s character and which comes to us from God, has two enormous benefits. The first is that it is more effective than the greatest of human understanding. Often times when we find ourselves in times of hardship or suffering we begin to devise plans with our own intelligence and our own intuition that we believe will help us persevere and come through those times. Sometimes those plans work and sometimes they don’t. But even when our plans do work they often require tweaking and still leave us experiencing anxiety and worry. On the other hand, when we (in the midst of hardships and suffering) are in the habit of bringing everything before God and God grants us His peace, we experience results that our own understanding and intelligence never could have made possible. One set of commentators says it this way, “God’s peace is able to produce exceedingly better results than human planning.” So we experience the benefit of God’s peace which is far better and more effective in our times of trials than even the greatest of human understanding. The second benefit we experience concerning the peace of God is that it “will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul was using imagery in this phrase that the church at Philippi would have been very familiar with. Because Philippi was a Roman colony, there was stationed there a Roman garrison whose purpose was to guard the pax Romana (the peace of Rome). The Roman military had established peace throughout its empire – an incredible feat concerning the size of the empire at the time. But Roman military had also been set-up throughout the empire to guard that peace. There job was to put down any groups that might try to rise up against Rome. If Rome had no enemies to rise up against them then their peace would continue. So in the same way that the Roman garrison was in place to protect the peace of Rome, God’s peace was granted to those who continued in their dependence on Him to guard both their hearts and their minds in the times of hardships and suffering that they experienced.

Paul moves to end this series of commands in verse 8 saying, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Paul challenges the thought life of the church at Philippi. There were things taking place all around the church in the city of Philippi itself and news of things taking place throughout the Roman Empire and the world that made its way to the city of Philippi. Many of those things were not edifying for those who made up the church at Philippi to think about. So Paul challenges the church at Philippi not to be lazy thinkers who dwell on whatever it is that enters into their minds – Paul challenges them to take control of their thought life and to put the things which enter into their minds through a filter, allowing only those things which pass through the filter to be the things upon which they think. As followers of Christ they needed to be diligent in making sure the things they thought about were things that were ‘true.’ ‘True’ things were things that weren’t fabricated or false. In a Roman colony like Philippi there would have been exposure to false, made up things, such as the Roman gods and goddesses that many people built their lives around. Paul encourages those who were followers of Christ not to spend time thinking about those things when there were things that were true which they could be thinking about and building their lives around. As followers of Christ they needed to be diligent in making sure the things they thought about were things that were ‘honorable’ or ‘noble.’ ‘Honorable’ things were things that were above reproach, lofty, and majestic. Those who were part of the church of Philippi weren’t to be consumed with cheap, junky thoughts and beliefs, but were to fix their minds on things of quality and worth. As followers of Christ they needed to be diligent in making sure the things they thought about were things that were ‘just’ or ‘right.’ ‘Just’ things were things that were fair and right. Paul had already warned the church about not doing things out of rivalry, conceit, or selfish ambition – mindsets that often looked to exploit or take advantage of people in order to advance oneself. They needed to be fixing their minds on what was fair and right. As followers of Christ they needed to be diligent in making sure the things they thought about were things that were ‘pure.’ ‘Pure’ things were things that were morally blameless, things that were without any hint of immorality. This was a challenge for those who were part of the church at Philippiw(ho were surrounded by great immorality) and I believe it’s one of the greatest challenges for the church in America today. In the 21st century internet pornography has become an incredible addiction for a huge number of men. Many of the very men who attend our churches on Sunday mornings and who attend weekly Connection Points are also viewing pornography on their computers throughout their week. But this isn’t just an issue for men. As I write this there is a movie playing all across the country called Magic Mike which appears to be about male strippers. Several good-looking Hollywood stars play a role in this movie, and as a result women across the country are paying millions of dollars to see it. As best I can tell the movie isn’t a pornographic one, but this movie (as well as popular TV shows like Dancing with the Stars) certainly causes the minds of women to think on suggestive behavior that hints about immorality. Paul’s command is to think on those things which are pure, without any hint of sexual immorality. So if we, as a church, are going to do well in this area of thinking we have to be much more diligent and work hard at filtering out those things which are not pure from our thinking. Additionally, as followers of Christ they needed to be diligent in making sure the things they thought about were things that were both ‘lovely’ and ‘commendable.’ ‘Lovely’ things were things that caused delight and were pleasing. ‘Commendable’ things were things that were praiseworthy or admirable.

Paul’s commands here assume that there are things that will pass through these filters upon which the church can think – the greatest of which is Christ Jesus, Himself. But this way of thinking doesn’t come naturally for most of us in the 21st century. We are surrounded by so much technology and so much entertainment that most of us wrestle with critical thinking. We like to mentally check out at the end of our work days and just sit in front of our televisions and not think at all. We can’t afford to be lazy thinkers though – we have to constantly be putting our thoughts through this filter to make sure the things we are thinking on are things which will edify us and build us up in our relationships with Jesus. We must be attentive, reflective, and meditative in our thinking.

The section of Paul’s letter that we are looking at this week ends with verse 9¸ “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Paul’s reference to what has been ‘learned’ and ‘received’ deals primarily with the Gospel that Paul has taught to the church. It deals with the doctrine and belief that he has instructed them in. It is the story of God’s redemptive and saving work accomplished through Jesus Christ and the transformation that results when we place our faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. His reference to what has been ‘heard’ and ‘seen’ deals primarily with the way of living that Paul has modeled for the church – the way he has put Jesus on display in his own life. Like Jesus, Paul has humbled himself and given his life to the mission of God. Rather than seeking comfort, wealth, or personal fame, Paul has given all of himself to task of helping others be reconciled to God and bringing glory to God the Father. G. Walter Hansen says, “Paul not only preached the gospel, but he also showed the way to live the gospel.”

It’s the last statement that I think may be the most important in the text that we have examined this week. “Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Paul has just given the church at Philippi some incredibly hard commands to keep. In all honesty, they are commands that those who made up the church at Philippi would never be able to keep on their own. But Paul doesn’t place a ‘period’ after the phrase “practice these things.” Paul gives the most important of all reminders at the end, “and the God of peace will be with you.” Jesus promised us in John 14 that He would send a helper to those who trusted in Him as Savior and Lord – the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit would reside within us so that God would literally be with each and every believer in Christ. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our Helper! That has huge significance, because we now have one residing within us who can help us accomplish those things that we can’t do on our own. He’s our partner for our walk with Christ! And what’s more is He empowers us to do what we can’t do on our own.

I think one of two things happens for most believers in Christ when they encounter passages like this one filled with incredibly tough commands. Some set out in their own strength to try to prove to themselves and others that they are strong enough individuals to keep these commands. They set out in self-righteousness and pride and at the end of the day ultimately fail in their attempts to keep the commands. Still others (and I think a majority of believers fall into this category) look at the difficulty of these commands and just give up. They write them off as “too hard” and don’t even try. They don’t believe in themselves – and perhaps more tragically, they don’t believe in their partner. They don’t think that the helper God has given to them can help them keep these commands and so they write off both the commands that God has given and the helper that God has given and accept failure. Sometimes we look at the Holy Spirit as our partner the same way that I looked at Stacy as a cheerleading partner – as incapable of helping us accomplish anything. And not only is that something for which we ought to be ashamed, it’s something for which we need to repent. So my challenge for myself and my challenge for any of you who fall into either of these two categories is to repent of that sin and then ask God to help you trust in the empowering work of the Holy Spirit in your life and in dependence upon Him make your best effort at living for Him each and every day.