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Well, hello. Please turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2. We will get there in just a moment. Philippians chapter 2. I want to continue our series tonight in our heart series. We're at number 19, and it's just about over. But I wanted to talk about ambition, godly ambition.

You know, last week we looked at contentment, and Paul had learned the secret of being content in any circumstance. It's truly a rare jewel, Christian contentment. It's something that, well, it's rare. And what does it mean to be content? It means to be satisfied. Not a self-sufficiency, but a Christ-sufficiency.

It's a rare, rare jewel. Last time we looked at several ways to learn contentment and compared it to a rare jewel. How do you learn contentment? Well, you get good at denying yourself. The vanity of all earthly pursuits. You remember what the Bible says you are in this world.

We are travelers, pilgrims, passing through, soldiers. It's all passing. We learn contentment by enjoying to honor God in all stations of life: big pictures of life, medium pictures of life, and even the small details day to day. We learn contentment and honoring God independent of the when, the where, but if you enjoy honoring God in all stations of life, in all circumstances of life, you're always going to have an opportunity to do so.

And to be content in knowing that no matter where, when, or where you, who you're with, you have an opportunity to honor God. To understand the burden of prosperity, we learn contentment by understanding that with prosperity, which we often pine away for in some shape or form, that there is also a burden that goes with that, the burden of being a good steward, greater dangers associated with the burden of prosperity.

Another way to learn contentment is to embrace God's providence for all things, that God is at work, His providence is. Sufficient, and he is supplying all things and working all things for his good, for our good, for his glory, and so we can learn contentment. And finally, a way to learn contentment is to identify the one thing that's necessary: relationship with Christ.

That is, the one thing that is necessary, and the one thing that in every circumstance you're in, God has afforded you the opportunity to walk with Him, to fellowship with Him. He's promised to never leave us or forsake us. Contentment. That's how we learn contentment. The problem with this list is really the sequel.

I want to identify the sequel to this message on contentment, and that is: how can I be content and be ambitious at the same time? How do I not just go down a cycle of, okay, I'm going to be content. The Bible calls me to die to myself, and what ends up happening is I go into sort of more of a comatose state.

Okay, I'm just going to be a martyr, I'm going to die, and I'm going to not feel. That is not Christian contentment, number one, but it is that kind of thinking is divorced. Divorced from godly ambition. How can we be content and ambitious at the same time? How do we not let our contentment turn into apathy and I don't care mentality?

How do we not let our contentment turn into resignation or chill? Let's just chill instead of be active with the things of God. In fact, after I gave this talk on contentment, a number of conversations started up. Okay, well then, what do I do in this circumstances? What do I do in this situation?

When something isn't right or a longing that one may have, how do we put these two together, this idea of being content and yet ambitious? Because certainly the Bible is very clear that we are to be zealous for the things of God and that to not be content or apathetic with a lost world and things that are out of order.

And so how do we put these two together? It really deals with what I call another rare jewel, and that is godly ambition. Another rare jewel. I give you the history of another one of the rare jewels. Jewels out there, and that's the heart of eternity, a blue diamond found in a South African mind.

28 carats, a very rare, rare jewel indeed. And tonight, what I want to do is I want to look at how we can grow in the direction of godly ambition, how we can maintain and keep growing in that direction of Christian contentment, and at the same time grow in the direction of godly ambition.

So, one thing that I want to talk about tonight: how do we grow in the direction of godly ambition? A godly ambition is one that is content to pursue the glory of God. So, you can't divorce contentment and ambition because they are related. One, godly ambition is one that is content to pursue the glory of God rather than the glory of self.

And get our minds around this. There are three questions that I want to ask tonight and answer. Number one, what is ambition? Number two, what is godly ambition? And number three, how do I, how do we, grow in the direction of godly ambition? So, that's where we're going tonight, the time that God has for us.

We'll talk about these things as the time allows. Three questions. What is ambition, first of all? What is ambition? Well, if you just looked it up in a dictionary, ambition can be good or bad. It's neutral. It's a desire to achieve a particular end, an ambition, a desire to achieve an end.

It has also a very negative connotation in many uses. It speaks of that ardent desire for fame or for power or for rank or for prestige, an end, a goal. And really, that is really the mantra of our times. Pursue your heart, follow your heart, follow your dreams, realize your goals, realize your aim, your aspirations, your dreams, your intentions, your hopes, your target.

Achieve those. And so that's how we typically associate ambition. It's a very self-advancing kind of ideal. But the word actually has its roots in Roman politics. We know politics. In fact, we kind of have a little bit. And they did have to vote. And so. So, Roman, this idea of ambition, it's the idea to go around.

It's like to go around urging citizens to vote for you. That's the idea of ambition, to go around politicking. We see that. We're not too, we understand that. To go around, that's the idea, ambition, to go around with the sense to get something or gain something specifically an office or to gain a vote from a person, to get them to go around and to get them to vest in you.

And that's ambition in a generic sense. Philippians 2:3 speaks about a bad kind of ambition. Philippians 2:3 says, Do nothing from selfish ambition in the ESV or conceit, empty conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Selfish ambition. Do nothing from selfishness or selfish ambition. The idea behind the word in Greek, the selfish ambition, is the idea of a servant for hire, kind of like a day laborer standing on the corner waiting.

I'm giving out for hire. I'm giving my services for hire. That's the idea of selfish ambition. I'm going to do something to gain something. It's the idea of selfish ambition. I'm going to do something, whatever that may be, whatever pursuit, whatever relationship, or whatever action it is, the idea is I want something in exchange for what I am doing.

That's the idea of selfish ambition, as Paul uses it in Philippians 2:3. Do nothing from selfishness, selfish ambition. He also uses the word and puts it right there with it, or empty conceit, or of empty conceit, of conceit. The idea there is do nothing out of an inflated view of yourself.

Empty conceit. Don't do anything, don't put yourself out there or do anything for the purpose of gaining something to stroke your vain or exaggerated self-evaluation of yourself. And you think about it, that's what we do when you talk about a sinful ambition or selfishness. There is by necessity a high or inflated view of self.

If I seek to gain from people, whatever the situation may be, instead of giving to people, it presupposes a vain and inflated view of self. I deserve something from you. It's the opposite. Empty conceit and selfish ambition is the opposite of self-emptying. It's about self-filling. Selfish ambition is about a self-filling and using others to fill you up.

We have a lot of negative examples of this in the Bible. I'll mention a couple. You can probably, your mind can add a whole lot more. But you remember Baruch in Jeremiah 45, after Jeremiah had written this message and this scroll says this in Jeremiah 45:1. This is the message which Jeremiah, the prophet, spoke to Baruch, the son of Nereh, when he had written down these words in a book at Jeremiah's dictation.

And then he says in verse 5 to Baruch, and Baruch is really upset about this whole thing and doesn't like how the whole prophecy. Is going and what's going to happen? And then Jeremiah says this: But you, speaking to Baruch, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them.

For behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh, declares the Lord. Don't seek great things for yourself, don't advance in fleshly ways. You remember Gehazi? You remember in 2 Kings 5, Gehazi, you remember after Elisha had told Naaman, the Syrian, to go down and bathe in the river and come out, and his leprosy was healed.

And he wanted to give a great gift to Elisha, and Elisha said, No. But Gehazi saw this and, like, man, there's some good cash right there. There's a cash cow right there, walking away. And so he runs after him. And so Gehazi runs and he catches up with him, and he says in verse 520 of 2 Kings, but Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, Behold, my master has spared this Naaman, the Aramean, by not receiving from his hands what he brought.

As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him. Not the quintessential statement of selfish ambition, as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him. How many of you are characterized by that tonight in your relationships, whether it's brother, sister, whether it's friend, whether it's associate, whether it's employer, employee?

How many of you are like Gehazi? As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him. It's your primary motive in life to take something from somebody else. Well, that's Gehazi. And then in verse 23, Naaman says, be pleased to take two talents. In other words, he comes up and says, what do you want?

Well, I want maybe a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And Naaman is very generous, and he says, please take two talents. And he urged him, and he bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants.

And they carried him before them. But there's a reckoning because then Gehazi had to go back into the house where Elisha was. And in verse 25, it says this, but he went in, Gehazi went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you been, Gehazi?

And he said, Your servant went nowhere. Then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants?

Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever. So he went out from his presence a leper, white as snow. That was Gehazi. Elisha's words are so appropriate. Is it a time, is this life now a time to receive money, clothes, olive groves, vineyards?

No, we are of an eternal sort. This is not the time for that. The world is passing away, and those in it are perishing along with it. But these are examples of just those who had an inflated view of themselves and they sought. They were ambitious for themselves, and they sought to appease their vanity by selfish endeavors.

I can think of many more examples. I want to move on. What is godly ambition? Next important question: What is Godly ambition? Ambition. Remember this morning in Galatians 1.10, we looked at these words of Paul. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men?

If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. The word striving to please means accommodating. Am I now trying to accommodate people and really accommodate myself, get people's affections? Am I striving to please? Romans 15:1, Paul says this in Romans 15:1.

Now we who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of those who are without strength, and not just please ourselves. This life isn't about your vain pursuits for yourself. It's about helping others, accommodating others. 1 Corinthians 10, 31, Paul says this, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.

Give no offense either to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, so that they may be saved. That's a godly ambition. May seek others' profits, the profit for others, glory of God, and the sole profit and benefit of others rather than of self.

So there is good ambition. 2 Corinthians 5:9, Paul says, This, therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. The idea is to please the Lord. It comes from the two words, philos and Time, the love of honor, noble ambition, the love of what is good.

That is what the idea we also have as our ambition, the love and the fondness of that which is noble and good and right. That's the idea of a good ambition, to love that which is honorable. And that's what Paul did. There is a central place for the Christian, and that there's a central place for this kind of ambition, a passion for that which is excellent, a passion for that which is noble.

And this does. Negate Christian contentment, but it does aspire to the noble advancement of the excellent things. It's interesting in 2 Corinthians 5:9, Paul says a lot in a little space. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. To be pleasing to Him.

That's Paul's ambition. To be pleasing to God, whether at home or absent. In other words, in all circumstances, wherever I may be, I am desiring to be pleasing to Him. And that idea of being pleasing speaks of that behavior which is acceptable to God. So noble ambition, godly ambition, is seeking the glory of God, the profit of others, a love for that which is excellent.

And there is a place for that, even a command, a directive to make it our ambition to, in all circumstances, honor Him. So then the question becomes: how do we grow in the direction of godly ambition? How do we. Be ambitious for godly ambition. It's kind of a play on words, but it's really what's trying to answer.

It doesn't really answer the question: to be ambitious, to be ambitious for God is godly ambition, for sure. But how can I become ambitious for godly ambition? How do I get there? Got several thoughts. And I want to recommend at the outset this book called Rescuing Ambition. An excellent book written by Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition, because what happens is we often just, in our Christianity and in our death to self, we can often become very unambitious.

And it's an excellent book. I recommend it, just like I recommend the Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I recommend this one: Rescuing Ambition. In fact, I would actually like to do about six nights just going through this book, but I'm not. I'm going to do it in one very good book about this idea of ambition.

How do we? How can we be zealous for the good things? How do we do that? And where does that start? And great work on that. And so some of my thoughts are loosely connected to this and really more of a smorgasbord of my own thoughts coming together.

But how do we grow in the direction of godly ambition? Well, number one, we need to empty. Oh, wait a second. Okay, I don't know what happened here. Okay. First of all, we need to, let me just say this. We've got my things out of order. I'm sorry.

It's been busy. Number one, let me put it like this. We need to admit, before we do anything, we need to admit our problem with earthbound aspirations. We need to admit that there really is a problem, that we need to be rescued from our earthbound aspirations. That's so germane to who we are.

We have these earthbound aspirations to get something, to gain something. And to be great in something. And we have all kinds of these earthbound aspirations, and they can drive us. They can become, they are the slave master in our lives. So, second, we need to let our ambition be a loving response to the gospel.

Let our ambition be a loving response to the gospel. So, number one, we need to admit that we have a problem with earthbound aspirations and that we need to be rescued from them. And, second, we need to understand that our ambition needs to be a loving response to the gospel.

What I mean by that is, let your desire for godly ambition be a result of and a response to the gospel. You know, like we looked at that this morning. And here's the thought: just think for a moment that God has the capacity to think of you and me among all of the things going on, all of the people in the world, all of the thoughts that people think, all of the things going on in the universe, that God has the capacity to even know.

Exist is incredible. That he has such capacity and is mindful of me at this very moment, and he is very much attuned to every one of my thoughts. Think about that. He knows every thought right now going on in this room, and not just in this room, but in this city and in this state and in this planet.

He is that dialed in. He has that kind of a capacity. The fact that he is mindful of you and me and each of our thoughts is beyond comprehension. It's truly amazing. It's an awe that will hush your soul if you just think about the expansiveness and the capacity of God.

And then you think about that. And then you add to that that he treasures us. He treasures you and me. He is concerned about your thoughts. He is interested. He is dialed in. He treasures you. He treasures me. Not only does he have the capacity that hushes my soul, but he has.

Concern that awakens my soul. And so, having received such favor and then to go beyond that, that he would love us to the supreme degree of loving the perfect Son who is perfectly obedient, you can't have a higher expression of God's favor. And so, the gospel is about that favor of God showered upon us.

And so, our ambition, what do you do with this kind of love, this kind of vast capacity and deep-seated and directed kind of love toward you and toward me? How do you respond to this kind of favor? Well, you favor him in response. Let your ambition be then to favor him as a response to his great grace.

Let your ambition come out of the gospel and let it be an expression of preferring him, preferring him and his good pleasure above everything else because he is worthy of that. So, let our ambition be a loving response to the gospel. Number three, we must empty ourselves. Let me just see what I've got here.

Let's just go with that. So I skipped one, I guess. I'll just talk about the emptying. We must empty ourselves. How do we grow in the direction of godly ambition? We must empty ourselves. You see, the way up is the way down. It always has been. This was the way of the master.

You can look at Philippians 2:5. Right after he says, do nothing from selfish or empty conceit in verse 3. He says this in verse 5. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let me just back up and read that. It's an incredible passage. Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves.

That's godly ambition. Do not merely look out for yourself and personal interests. That's selfish ambition. But also for the interests of others. That's godly ambition. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men.

Becoming, he humbled himself. He emptied. Himself. All that Christ had, he poured out. He poured out what he had to please his Father. You and I are filled to pour. And if you look at your life as you're filled to get, to use, or you're going through life to be filled, you miss the whole point of life.

You are filled to pour, and we must pour out what we have for his use, whether it be your strength, your resources, whatever it may be. But all that we are and all that we have, just like the way of the Master, is to be poured out and used to please him.

The way up is the way down. It's the way of Christ. This is number four. Learn from failure. Learn from failure. How do you grow in the direction of godly ambition? Learn from failure. Learn from, there's all kinds of failures all around. There's the biblical failure. Can you give me some examples?

Talk to me. Give me some examples that we can learn from in the Bible. David, yes, thank you. Peter, oh, yeah, learn from Peter for sure. Who else? Moses. Who? Moses. Moses. Moses, yeah. Adam. Israel. Jacob. Just go down the line. There are so many biblical examples of failure, and they're not given to puff you up.

They're given for you to learn. Learn. There's a lot of non-biblical failures around us. Boy, you can look around all that. I would start calling for names, but that could get pretty embarrassing. Let me tell you what my wife did. We look around our society, we see failure and failure, personal and misjudgments, and wrong judgments and moral breakdowns and all kinds of things.

They're all around us. Learn from those. Don't gloat. But then there's our personal failures, personal examples. Look inside and look at the, go survey your own life and your own personal failures. And let me tell you something about these failures. These failures. Are God's humbling graces in your life?

You need to be brought low. You need to see the end of yourself. And failures can teach us lots. Whether they're biblical failures, non-biblical failures, or your own failures, failures teach us so many things. Number one, they teach us that we're limited, we have a limitation. They allow us to see the end of ourselves.

We're not self-sufficient. They also teach us that God isn't as interested in our accomplishments as much as He is the people we are becoming. Are you learning from your failures? That's what's important here. Failure can be a lesson rather than a label. Sometimes you just put that label on your failure, failure, failed again, failure again.

You can go through life thinking of failure as a label, but it's a lesson. Learn. Learn. You want to grow in the direction of godly ambition. Learn from failure and learn from your own failure. Failure can be a means to grow you rather than condemn you. And our failures spend a lot time talking on.

But our failures also testify that God has a better plan. Sometimes when you reach the end of yourself, it's just a testimony that God has more, a better plan. Number five, value the eternal. Value the eternal. I mean, it's not hard to look around the world, think about for a moment what are some of your greatest aspirations.

Maybe it's to be a great athlete. Think about the finest athlete. Maybe you're in the athletic world and you want to be an athlete and you've got this individual that's in your mind you'd like to be like, or maybe it's wealth. Maybe you can think and you can say, well, I'd like to be like that entrepreneur or accomplish what that guy did or what that lady did.

And I would like to embody that wealthy, successful entrepreneur. Or maybe it's the entertainment world. You go through, you think through who maybe it's an entertainer. Maybe you're like, man, I really would like to be on the stage and be performing in this setting and really have that deposit from the fans puffing up my vain views of myself.

Or maybe it's a politician, maybe whatever it is. Think about these things. Think about what's passing. Think about the eternal. Listen, all about the great accomplishments that's ever been built. I can assure you, the Word of God and the people of God are going to outlast the great pyramids.

When all races are run, when the last penny fails, when everything has come and gone, God's people will be here. God's word will still be here. They will be here long after all others are gone. The church will be here. Vest yourself in that which is eternal. And don't get caught up in vain pursuits of life.

Oh, yeah, if God has gifted you to be an athlete, go, run for the glory of God. He's given you wealth, use it for the glory of God. Value the eternal in the process. Number six, find your freedom in slavery. Almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Find your freedom.

Your freedom in slavery. That's exactly what Paul said. In that same verse we looked at this morning. He found his liberty in being a servant of Christ, a slave of Christ. If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Being a servant of Christ freed him from having to please people.

To be enslaved to that. And freedom is a stewardship. Luke 16:10 says this: He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Use your freedom. Be a slave. Steward that which God has entrusted to you.

And you will find freedom, blessing. And that's growing in the direction of godly ambition. One more. How do we grow in the direction of godly ambition? Let godly ambition rescue us from our worldly ambition. So think about that for a second. Let godly ambition rescue. Rescue you from worldly ambition.

That's what has to take place. Change of ambitions and let that godly ambition rescue us. Let me write how this talks about contentment. This is how I, what I think Christian contentment sounds like. Christian contentment says this: I am going to live the life God has given me to live.

I am not going to pine away for something else. I will enthusiastically embrace all that He has given me and set before me, and I will do so with gratitude and joy. That's Christian contentment. A rare jewel. Over against that, and in conjunction with that, I want to set before you another rare jewel, and that is godly ambition.

Godly ambition says this: I want to use my strength, resources, and all that I am and have for His glory, to demonstrate to myself, my world, and the angelic realms, His goodness, and His wisdom in giving me the things that He has. He has wisely put you in your place and in your time.

He has put you in the family, in the home that He has put you in. He has given you the resources, He has given you the opportunity. Brought into you, all of your surroundings, and he did so for a purpose, not that you would go and squander that, but that you would use that to demonstrate to all those around, to yourself, to others, and to the angelic realms, his wisdom, his goodness in giving you the things that he did.

Now, that is another rare jewel that we don't find in the church much. Contentment and ambition, Christian contentment and godly ambition. Thoughts? Questions? Observations? Would you put those back up there so we couldn't write them down? That was an easy answer. Well, let me close this then in prayer, and we'll just leave this up for a moment.

Heavenly Father, we do thank you, Father. We see these jewels, these virtues, that you are interested in our character. You are interested in transforming us into the image of your Son, in whom are jewels and delights of virtue and virtue. Beauty, which far more impressed you than any of the worldly goods, any of the things that are transitory and passing away.

Father, you're interested in us, what we're becoming, and you're at work instilling these great, valuable virtues in our lives. Father, help us to trust you, to have faith in you, and to be content like Paul was content, and to be ambitious like Paul was ambitious for your glory and namesake.

Father, thank you, go with us this week that we may glorify you, love Jesus more, walk with you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.