|
|
|
Sunday March 21, 2010 "Press On" Philippians 3:4b - 14 |
 |
|
Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 3/22/2010 2:57 PM | Sunday March 21, 2010
“Press On”
Philippians 3:4b -14
From the time I can really remember beginning to understand some of what is in the Bible, I wasn’t sure what to make of Paul. I wasn’t sure that I was ready to trust someone who did a 180 degree turn in their life like he did. He was the persecutor of the Christians, after all. He was responsible for imprisoning and possibly even executing those who were followers of Jesus, those who dared believe that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah.
But I have come to understand that it is precisely because Paul did that 180 degree turn in his life that we need to listen to him. Because Paul knows of what he speaks: he knows what it means to change; he knows what it means to turn his life around. He has something very important to tell us.
Today’s passage is one of those times when I look at Paul and realize that he understands what it means to struggle with giving oneself over to a relationship with Jesus Christ in the midst of a world that honors achievement and wealth and political power. Paul has been on both sides of the relationship with Jesus – both as committed opponent and as devoted follower. Paul has been on both sides of the “power” divide, too – both as a man of prestige and power in society, a man of high achievement, and as a man who was on the outside of respected society, a man looked down upon by the movers and shakers of his world.
Because of Paul’s understanding of both of these lives, Paul has a lot to tell us about what it means to truly be in relationship with God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Especially during Lent.
This passage brings Lent to a crescendo…it’s not over yet, but next week we turn our attention to the end of Christ’s earthly ministry as Jesus and the disciples enter Jerusalem.
Today, though, we are still firmly in that place where we are focused on our Lenten journey; a journey that will lead us to consider and reconsider just where we are in our faith journey and how we can strengthen our relationship with God. It is a time to face up to those things that distract us from our relationship with God and contemplate how we put those distractions aside, once and for all.
Paul is urging the church in Philippi to take a hard look look at their own lives. He is urging them to do an inventory, an assessment, of what is important to them and to ask themselves very directly: are the things I value the things that will lead to a better relationship with God? Or, are the things I value keeping me distracted from that relationship? It is an extremely important question, and one that we also must deal with today – maybe now, more than ever.
Paul begins this passage by assuring the reader that he, maybe more than most, understands what it means to be held in respect and high standing among his peers and his people. A devout Jew, a scholar, a respected member of the pharisaical tradition, a scrupulous follower of the law and a strong and confident enemy of all who would challenge the religious authority that he zealously guarded. He was smart, hardworking and admired by all. And, maybe most importantly, he was proud of who he was and what he did.
If we were to be honest with ourselves, what would we hold up as things that we are proud of in our lives? What accomplishments define us? Academic degrees from prestigious institutions? A high paying job in a high profile company or industry? A house that is the envy of the neighborhood? A luxury car that announces that we’ve made it? Memberships in the right clubs, attendance at the right meetings, positions of respect in church and civic organizations? Seats on board of charitable organizations?
What shapes our identity? What gives us our security? What are things we have worked for? What are the things we strive for?
These are for Paul, and for our Lenten journey, some of the most important questions we will ever ask ourselves. At the heart of the answers to these questions lies an important clue as to how we live our lives, and how we live out our relationship with God.
Hear Paul’s again as he reflects on all that he thought was important: “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ…for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish.”
This may be at the heart of why I sometimes have a hard time warming up to Paul – he is a zealot! He takes a good idea and takes it to such an extreme as to be absurd. And, he challenges me to do the same.
This is the difficulty of Lent, the difficulty of our Christian walk in a nutshell: we are expected to turn ourselves over to God’s will, completely, totally, selflessly. And we are not always sure we want to do that.
If the last year and half have shown us anything, it is that the achievements of this world are fleeting. How many examples of lives turned upside down, careers lost or irreversibly changed, retirements threatened have we witnessed? In the midst of all of that, one thing remains constant: God’s hopeful presence.
When it comes right down to it, we can set aside our gains only when we realize that they hold no advantage for us – they are all fleeting and can be lost at any time: status, achievements, creature comforts. Laura Mendenhall has addressed the issue this way: “Trusting solely in God’s grace, we give up past certainty for future hope, give up measuring our own progress because we recognize there is no righteousness on our own.”
And she is right.
Until we set aside the gains of our achievement, we will be captive by the expectations of others;how much financial security we think we need; which neighborhood we think we need to live in; which car we think we need to drive; which school we need to attend; which house we need to own.
And as long as we are held captive by these things, we will not know true security. We will not know true peace. We will not know our true identity as a child of God.
Once again, Paul makes it clear that to be released from the captivity of our expectations and worries and desires we need to grasp one thing: the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ. This, Paul says, is where true gain is: in knowing Jesus. This, Paul says, is where true security lies: in knowing Jesus. This, Paul says, is where true peace is found: in knowing Jesus.
Hear his words one more time: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Wait a second: is Paul saying that I will find security and identity and peace by not simply acknowledging the power of his resurrection, but by participating in his suffering and even becoming like him, including his death? Suffering? Death? Really?
Yes, really. That is exactly what Paul is saying. And I know how difficult this sounds.
Difficult or not, all of this begs several questions: First, how do we find our true identity in Jesus? By doing exactly what he did: being obedient to what we know God would have us do. Obedient, even to the point of suffering. We are not all asked to do the same things; but we are all asked to be obedient to do our best, in our individual worlds, to follow the example of Jesus.
Second, how do we find our security in Jesus? We find security in Jesus the same way he found his security in God: by trusting in the faithfulness of God, by recognizing that our story is part of God’s larger story.
Third, how do we learn trust in Jesus? In the same way that Jesus learned to trust God: by stepping into places we have never been, by participating in the resurrection experience of Jesus by sharing what we have with others. By recognizing that being called “The Body of Christ” is not simply some flowery name, but a call to responsibility. Christ came to shine God’s light in dark places, and if we are to live up to our calling as Christ’ body, we must do the same. Sometimes this will put us in places that are uncomfortable for us. The thing is though, that as the Body of Christ, we are called to make the resurrection real to those who need it most. That means stepping out of our comfort zones and doing what we know we should do. The more we do this, the more we will learn that God is with us, the more we will trust in God’s presence and our call to serve God.
If we never leave our own self made comfortable existence, we will never have to trust in God’s presence and we therefore, will never learn what it means to trust. Trust only follows stepping out in faith, into the unknown.
This does not mean we stop working and living and providing for our family: it means we must work to stop obsessing and worrying and focusing on our achievements and accomplishments and look outside ourselves.
“Okay,” I hear some of you saying “that sounds fine and good, but how do we actually carry out these forays into obedience, security and trust?” The answer is, “we do it together.”
We, in fact, cannot do it alone. We need to understand that God is with us, but still, that sounds like a preachers platitude rather than the reality of our daily existence. So let me try this instead: Together we are the body of Christ, and as the body of Christ, we are called to continue the work that Jesus started. But we are not the body of Christ alone as individuals. We are the body of Christ together. When we band together to help others or to worship God, each of us play a role. We are not expected to do that type of work alone. So why would we be expected to undertake radical change in our lives alone? We need each other to help us along the way. We need each other to keep us accountable. We need each other to lean on. We need to reach out to each other in sharing and in faith if we are to truly change.
That’s why this place, with it’s Bible studies, Sunday school classes, fellowship groups, women’s groups, men’s groups and the like are so important. And it’s why we need to emphasize small group ministry even more than we do. We need people who know us, who know our struggles, and who are willing to be with us, pray for us, hold us accountable and love us. We need each other. We cannot be the body of Christ alone. We can only reach our full potential, together.
This is a difficult passage. It is a difficult call to change. And that is what Lent is all about: change. No matter who we are, we can always find ways to strengthen our relationship to God.
This is exactly where Paul is leading us. When we can give up relying on our own devices and achievements for fulfillment, we will learn that what truly sustains us is our faith and our relationship with God.
And this is where Lent is leading us: with God’s grace, the example of Jesus Christ, and the strength that comes from our fellowship with each other, we press on, doing our best to turn our lives, our desires, our whole selves over to God. Because as we press on, Easter ceases to simply be an annual celebration and becomes instead, a way of life.
May it be so for you and for me. Amen.
Let us pray: Lord, help us. We cannot do it alone. Help us to step out in faith, to lean on you, to lean on each other, to give up our own pursuit of status and renew our pursuit of all that you would have us be. Now and always. Amen.
| | | Permalink | Trackback |
|
|
 | |