Take your Bibles and go to Philippians chapter number 3. We will probably stay there most of the time. Philippians chapter number 3. Sharing in his suffering. Knowing God means sharing in his suffering. Around the age of 14 or 15, I'm not exactly sure what age it was now, since it's been so many years ago, is when I surrendered my life to the Lord to do whatever he wanted me to do. And evangelists, they are tricky, manipulative people. And there was an invitation just like I gave one. Me and my friend came up and we said, we'll do whatever God wants us to do. That was probably message three of like six messages that he was going to preach. And the very last one, he said, you know, if there's anybody in this room that really wants to serve God and do whatever he wants them to do, you can travel with me this upcoming summer as an evangelist in training. And he really put our money where our mouth was. Me and my friend were like, well, we did say that. And so the next year I traveled doing vacation Bible schools and tent meetings and really anything that the evangelist told us to do, that's what we did. We were slaves. And I loved it. The first year I went, I loved it. I had so much fun. I traveled the country. I went to Alaska. I went to Canada. I saw the Northern Lights. I flew in. This guy was taking some flight training. Actually, this might have been the second year, but this guy was taking some flight training in Alaska, and he took me up in a plane. He did some dead stalls. I was like, this is cool. The next year rolled around, and it was coming over summertime, and that option was still there. You can serve the Lord. You can give your summer to the Lord. And I honestly had this thought, God, I really want to do this. But I'm not sure if I should because I don't know if my motives are pure because I just want to have fun. I mean, I love fun. I like having fun. And I decided, yes, God, this is what you want me to do. And that summer was not nearly as much fun as the last summer. It was almost like the Lord was like, you think it's all fun, do you? I'll show you. And there was a lot more struggles, and I think the first year they were gracious as me, and the second year they told me what they really thought of me. And I was like, okay. So you know what it means to know God? It means we share in his suffering. And if you really want to serve the Lord, the first couple of messages that I preached, Brighton Row, really were the motivation to serve the Lord. But if you want to know God, you have to share in His suffering. And I just want to make a little bit distinction between sharing because we suffer with Jesus Christ and sharing because of our own sin. For instance, some trials are self-inflicted, and some come as a result of our faith. And I think some trials, we're gonna get to heaven, and we're really not sure, did I suffer because of my sin, or did I suffer because I was suffering with Jesus Christ? I'm not really sure. And maybe in heaven, we'll find out why we suffered. And actually, maybe in heaven, we might not find out. Oh, we know that song. Further along, we'll know all about it. I don't know if God will tell us why further along. I just know it's worth it, whether he tells us why or not. For instance, if someone spits in your face because you curse at them, you're suffering because of your own sin. That's just on you. If someone spits in your face because you tell them about Jesus, well, you're sharing in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. If someone hates you because you pray, well, you're suffering because of Christ. If someone hates you because you're anger, wrathful, snobbish, know-it-all punk, Well, then you're suffering because you're sin. If you lose a friend because you're unkind and unfriendly, well, you're suffering because of your sin. If you lose a friend because, you know what, you decided there's just some games I'm not gonna play anymore, there's some places I'm not gonna go anymore, and I really have nothing to talk about when I'm hanging out with these people, and you lose your friends because of that? Well, you're suffering because you're suffering with Jesus Christ. If you lose your job because you're lazy and do not work as unto the Lord, well, you're suffering because of your sin. If you lose your job because you witness to people, maybe during your lunch break when it's appropriate and all that, you're not stealing from your boss, well, you're suffering because of Jesus Christ. If you never get to play some summer sports, man, you're just never gonna do that because you decided, you know what, every summer I'm just gonna serve God. Well, you're suffering with Jesus Christ. If you never play sports because you're a no-doll and you never respect authority and you're never kept on a team ever, well, you're suffering because of your sin. Your pay may be docked because your boss realizes that you're lazy. Well, you're suffering because of your sin. Your pay could be docked because you realize, I know people this, they realize like we started working and they started paying me. They said, this is your starting wage. And I got my first check and it was way too much. And they came to me and said, Pastor, they're paying me too much. This is not what I signed on for. And they said, should I go and tell them? I said, well, of course you should go and tell them. And he lost his raise. Well, he's suffering because he's following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. He's being honest. Philippians chapter three, verse number one says this. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write unto you the same things to you, to me indeed it is not grievous, but to you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh that he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcise the eight day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Touching the righteous, which is of the law, blameless. But the things which were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, of whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and in the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. When we share in his suffering and his gains and his loss, we start to know who God really is. Jesus gave up everything for us, and he counted it a worthwhile investment. He said, I am going to lose all of the riches and glory in heaven, and it is worth it. It is totally worth it. Philippians chapter two, verse number six says this, Philippians 2.6. who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in likeness of men. If we want to know Jesus, we must sacrifice for him and count that sacrifice a worthwhile investment. Paul is writing here. You know what Paul had? Paul, before he got saved and gave his life to the Lord and lost all of these things, Paul had power, popularity, prestige, and prosperity. He had all of those things, but he gave them all up for the cause of Christ, and he said, it is all worth it. I have not lost anything. I've only gained. He was what you might call an oxymoron. I lost it all. And I gained. No, that's not how it works. You don't file chapter 11 and look back and go, yep, that was gain. That's all loss. That's how that works. The Bible says we must present our body a living sacrifice. Romans 12, verse number one and two, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, I beg of you, I plead with you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is just your reasonable service. The just isn't in there, it's just I put that in there. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are not saved because Jesus went through nothing. We're saved because Jesus suffered greatly. And if we want to know God, we have to suffer in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered for you, and you will never know the Lord the way you should know Him until you suffer for Him. Yea, all those that live godly in Christ Jesus shall what? Suffer persecution. If you live godly, you will suffer persecution. If you are not suffering persecution, it's either because God has just been extremely gracious to you, or you're not living godly because you're not suffering. But if we want to know God, we must fellowship in his suffering. Jesus' suffering was counted joy. Acts 5.40 says this. And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beat them, they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And you probably know this, but this is what they said. They departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. The apostles get brought to them. They get told, don't preach. They said, well, we're going to preach anyways. So they have this council. You know what we're going to do? We're just going to whip these guys and send them on their way and tell them not to preach anymore. And so they whip those guys. They walk out. They have just been whipped. I doubt that there is anybody now, maybe you've been whipped by your parents. We use that terminology. Most parents do not have a leather whip with glass embedded in it and bones embedded in it. Although I did know one eventually said, you know what, my wife, she tells, my wife has this whip. It is 10 feet long. It has glass and nails. And if I get out of line, I think he was talking about her tongue is what I understood it to mean. But they actually were whipped. I don't know how much people in the United States would handle that as a Christian, or if we could handle it as a Christian. Certainly, I don't know if we'd walk out of there and say, man, high five, this is awesome. We didn't just win the BBYC, we got whipped. Isn't that awesome? This is the greatest thing in the world. Listen, if you want to know God, suffer. You guys that said, listen, I want to serve the Lord, I just want to give you an accurate picture of what you want to do. You want to suffer because it's worth it. Because the sacrifice is well worth it all. You know, there's a song that says, are there no foes for me to fight? Has all the work been done already, teenagers? It's not all been done. There's more suffering in your lives to come. But if you will suffer for the cause of Christ, you will know him greater. And it is worth it. No matter loss, and you can go through terrible loss. Loss that your mind can just sit back and go, how did that happen? Why is this happening? Like the Psalms that you've been memorizing. Some of the Psalms, David was just honest with the Lord and he said, God, why? I don't understand this, why is this happening to me? I've done all this for you, don't you understand? Well, it's worth it. And most of the time at the end of those Psalms, David understands, you know what, Lord, you're God, it's okay, I can suffer for you. Knowing God means sharing in his suffering. When is the last time you suffered for Jesus Christ? When's the last time you suffered for him? Are you willing to suffer shame for his name? I mean, what have you given up for Jesus? That'd be a good question. What have I given up for Jesus Christ? Probably a lot of you in this room have some parents or some leaders that have forced you, not willingly, to give up some things for the cause of Jesus Christ. But what about you? When is the last time you said, you know what? I'm gonna give this up, this is something I like. It might not even be sinful. The Bible says to lay aside every sin for the cause of Jesus Christ. And he mouthed the word and the weight. Those things that aren't sin. Do you know there are so many things in this world that are not sin, but they're just weights. I try to run. I do some running. The day after Thanksgiving, I have a goal to run 60 miles in 24 hours. That's the goal. You do one mile loop as many as you can for 24 hours. And that's my goal. And runners, in the runner world, every ounce that you can get off of your body is another ounce you don't have to carry with you every single time and it adds up. And that's why people decide to get the shoes that are like $300 and they, you know, they pretty much fly by themselves because they're that light. because I understand everything that's on you, every little pound you put on. I used to, I ran for a while. They used to have these weight vests and in Chicago, I'd run at night and I put a weight vest on once and ran with it. And then my friends were like, you know what you should do? You should get those, these beanbag things and you strap them on your feet and they're weights. I went about a block, and I have never put those things back on again. That is garbage! I don't care if it's making me stronger. It's probably killing my ankles. This is dumb. You know what, teenagers? There's probably some things in your life that are on your backs, that are on your ankles. You know what? They're just dumb. They're not sinful. I'm not gonna be able to point to a verse, chapter and verse, thou shalt cut your hair, thou shalt do this, thou shalt not do this, thou shalt wear these, thou shalt. Although the cut your hair one, I can point to that verse. And a lot of things I think aren't very, we think are vague are not that vague. I'm pretty convinced about that. Teens, who's gonna suffer? Aren't you willing to suffer for the cause of Christ? Some of you are suffering because you're just idiots. I like preaching to teenagers, because I can just tell them, you're dumb. And you tell that to adults, they're like, well, how dare you, pastor. You called me dumb. Well, if you weren't dumb, I wouldn't have. If the dress and the slipper, you put them on. I don't know. Honestly, teens, there's just some things that we can just lay aside. And if we would just honestly think through those things and say, God, in the long run, if I suffer this tiny little thing, if I don't get two more hours on Saturday so I can get up and go tell people about Jesus, is it really that bad? You know, if I don't have a 401k, if I'm not, you know, make tons of money, there is nothing wrong with making money, nothing. But if your goal in this life is to make a good retirement, you are living for the wrong thing. Who's willing to suffer in this room? Many of you said, I want to serve the Lord. We should, He's a great God. But are you willing to suffer? The Catholics and people that don't know hardly anything about the Lord, they used to take whips and scourge themselves. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about this self-inflicted hanging yourself on the cross thing. But what I'm saying is this, God, my life is yours. And if I have to suffer, I remember one time, our youth group, there was about two of us there, and I was serving the Lord, maybe three of us there serving the Lord, and there was a youth group of maybe 10, not very good odds, two out of 10. I remember getting so angry one day, youth group, and I thought, don't any of my friends wanna serve God? And I wasn't talking about being a missionary, but just do something for the Lord. They're all talking about what they're doing, and almost none of it had to do with the Lord. Almost none of their conversations were resolved around the Lord. Think about this, how many of you have read your Bible today? How many of you have prayed? Hands are up, good. When was the last time you spent three hours in your Bible? When was the last time you spent three hours in front of TV? I might have to suffer. I can't watch my favorite movie. There are things that my family might do, but I'm convicted I shouldn't do. What will I do? You might suffer. For the cause of Christ, that's what might happen. But it's worth it. Father in heaven, we love you. God, I pray that we would just have some people, some teenagers that would be willing to suffer. Lord, many in this room, and I truly believe that, honestly, they said, I want to serve that God. I know who that God is, or at least I know something about God, and he is so worth it. It is the easiest decision that I could ever make. Lord, I pray that those same teenagers would say, God, is there something that I can give up for you? Can I suffer? You suffered so much for me. Can I suffer? Lord, would you allow me to suffer shame for the cause of Christ? Holy Spirit, you're good, your word is good. Please overcome just my craziness, Lord. And may your Holy Spirit do a work. May some teenagers here leave today, and maybe even still today, suffer something and say, you know what, that was worth it. It's all right. Because it is worth it for the cause of Christ. Their heads bowed and eyes closed. Will you suffer for Christ? As the piano begins to play, would you just think about this. Have I suffered for Jesus Christ or have I suffered because of my own sin? The answer to this invitation will be the next time you suffer and what you think about it. The next time you're asked to do something for the cause of Christ and what happens in those next milliseconds, that's going to determine. Do you think it's worth it? Never owning a house. Worth it. Never having a place to call home. Worth it. Not having all the friends in the world. Worth it. Having the world think you are weird. Well, you are weird. But for the cause of Christ, worth it.