True Contentment: Philippians M 8 (June 18, 2006)

Philippians M 8 True Contentment June 18, 2006

BI We experience true contentment when we experience Christ as our treasure and our power…

If you eat enough of the right kinds of food there comes a time when your stomach is satisfied….

But, the heart doesn't seem to work in quite the same way… The heart seems to be a bottomless pit that no experience on earth can satisfy….

When was the last time you acquired, achieved or experienced something that brought lasting contentment?

Perhaps some of us here would say… if only I had more success or money or popularity… I'd feel content.
Tom Brady, Sports Illustrated's most recent athlete of the Year…and the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots is someone who's experienced great success, wealth, and popularity.
Is Tom experiencing contentment?
You would think he would be…
Tom was considered too skinny, not possessing a strong enough arm, and too slow to be a successful professional football player and he was drafted late…
While still in his late 20s… he has already won three Super Bowls, an accomplishment that ranks him with some of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game. Not only is he a great player, but he's also a great, self-less person who everyone wants to play with.
But is he content? He told 60 Minutes: "Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is it. I reached my goal, my dream, my life.' I think, God, it's got to be more than this. I mean this isn't, this can't be, what it's all cracked up to be."
"What's the answer?" asked interviewer Steve Kroft.
"I wish I knew," Brady replied. "I wish I knew."
The heart seems to be a kind of bottomless pit—that no amount of achievement, money, and popularity and fame, can fill… so when Paul aptly says…in 1 Timothy 6:6 that godliness with contentment is great gain… he's not exaggerating.

Paul in the final words of the book of Philippians describes how a person can become content…

Again Paul is not writing as some armchair academic… Paul writes this letter to the church in Philippi from a Roman prison, where he's being held because of proclamation that Jesus, not Nero, is Savior and Lord. The prisoners were usually secured by a chain attached to their ankle or wrists. There was no proper feeding system in the prison and it was cold and many prisoners begged for a speedy death.

It's from this kind of context that Paul writes about contentment…

If you have your Bibles please turn to Philippians 4 vs. 10
Thanks for Their Gifts
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Paul says, 10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
As I've mentioned in those days there was no feeding system so don't image Paul in orange uniform standing in line at the cafeteria with his food tray…
Paul, like other prisoners of his day, was dependent on the good will and generosity of people outside the prison to bring him food and drink… The church at Philippi supported a short-term missionary named Epaphrodities to bring food and drink to Paul…
Paul in this final section of Philippians, as would been customary in these kinds of letters of his day, expresses his gratitude… in vs. 10 as he says I rejoice in the Lord for your concern for me. Later in vs. 14 Paul says it was good of you to share in my troubles…
Then, at the risk of sounding terribly ungrateful Paul says… in Vs. 11 I am not saying this (i.e. giving thanks for your gift) because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need (to be intensely hungry), and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Paul says I rejoice in the gift you sent me, but I've learned the “secret” of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry.
So what is Paul's secret to being content?
First let me talk about what it's not…
It's not what would have been the path of contentment for many people in the Greco-Roman world of his day: it's not the path of stoicism: Stoics were people who sought to be detached from their emotions, ideally indifferent to pleasure or pain.
A Stoic might say “Don't get attached to any one team in the world cup and you won't be hurt!”
Paul didn't pursue the path of contentment by being a stoic…
Nor did Paul seek contentment the way many people in our day seek it by seeking to acquire more of this or that.
Some people think the key to contentment is having a little bit more of this or that: maybe more education, a better career, more money or more of a certain kind of person, or more of a certain kind of family…
C.S. Lewis says, we think when we land the right job, or meet the right person, or perhaps are in the boat with the water lapping against the side…. We think that certain something we've been looking for is breaking into our lives and just as we get our arms around “it”… “it” eludes us… Lewis says nothing on this earth can fully satisfy us… because we were made for a reality beyond this earth--we were made for our creator…
Paul says…the secret of my contentment, isn't stoicism—it isn't about becoming detached from my emotions, it's not about… getting more of this or that..
It's having Christ at the center of my existence…
Paul says in vs. 12
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Paul says the secret to my contentment, whether in plenty or in need is Christ… Paul says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength…
A lot of people with good intent take this out of context. They just read Paul's words in this context about through Christ I can do anything… through him I can graduate at the top of my class, I can record a song that will rise to #1 on the charts, through Christ I can win the Vancouver marathon…
When Paul says, I can do all things through Christ… what Paul means in the context is that in Christ I can be content in any situation…

How so?

Paul's life was radically centered on Christ… and therefore he knew what a treasure he had, how truly rich he was… He says that though I have nothing, I have everything.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 in speaking of Christ says I/we have this great treasure in jars of clay, meaning our bodies… when we recognize Christ is at the center of our life, we recognize we have this great treasure… When we recognize we have a great treasure, we tend to be more content even if we lose something…

If you were given King Louis XIV priceless, blue diamond… then you ended up losing a loonie trying to buy a coke on a broken vending machine…. you're probably not going to turn it upside down, to try to retrieve it… you know how much you have…

When we have Christ it's like having something of far greater value than the priceless blue diamond… if you lose a quarter or a nickel or a loony… it's not going to really disturb you, it might bother you a little, but it won't destroy you because you know you have the greatest treasure in Christ…

Because Paul has this great treasure, Christ, at the center of his life, he can say, I've learned to be content even when deprived of other things like food, warmth, the basic comforts of life…

If Christ is at the center of our lives, not in the suburbs, we can be content in any circumstance…

If something other than Christ is at the center of our life… chances are we won't know lasting contentment… If work is at the center of our life and things go wrong with work, we won't be content, today is Father's day: if fathering (or mothering) as important and as noble as that calling is, is at center of our lives and the kids go wayward, we won't be content…

But if Christ is at the center of our life and not in the suburbs of our life, then we like Paul can also be content in any situation… if Christ is at the center of our lives it doesn't mean that we won't mourn and grieve our losses, but we won't fall apart because that is not our ultimate treasure, Christ is…

Paul writes about contentment while suffering in a Roman prison…. We also know Paul had some kind of physical affliction, that he described in 2 Corinthians 12 as a thorn in the flesh and he prayed God would take it away, but God said… I won't take it away but my grace will be sufficient for you…

There are times when we are in a difficult situation and God will not take away that situation, but says my grace will be sufficient for you in it…

Some years ago, I experienced a deep and painful loss… that seemed to drain away my life energy… I had a habit of waking up early and going running each morning along the ocean…. eager to drink in each new day… but during that season, it took a Herculean effort just to get out from under the covers… I couldn't really pray… but in that time of darkness, there were moments when God's presence was so sweet that I thought I could barely contain it…

I had no human reason to feel that sustaining joy and hope… and I believe with all my heart it was God…

We can be content in all circumstances if Christ is at the center of our life because if he is our treasure, this Christ will give us strength…

After speaking of contentment, Paul goes on…

After expressing gratitude for the gift from the church at Philippi which was not at all wealthy, and Paul says, in vs. 17 it's not so much that I desire your gift (I've learned to be content in any situation) but what I desire more is that something is credited to your account…

Paul is so frank, that in our culture he would seem rude (but apparently according to the commentators what he's saying is not necessarily rude in their culture). But I am glad he's frank because he's making important point…

Their giving food and drink did benefit Paul… it kept him alive… our individual and corporate giving does benefit others…
Researchers, John and Sylvia Ronsvalle have estimated that $100 billion a year could meet the most essential human needs around the world. "We would really be on development curve overcoming the poverty that now kills and maims so many children and adults."
"If each Christian in North America would tithe (that is follow the Biblical call to tithe, which simply means giving 10 percent of their income to God) there could be an additional $100 billion available for this kind of mission work."
But while the Philippian church's giving does help Paul, Paul doesn't emphasize this… he says… it's not so much that I desire your gift, but I desire something to be credited to your account.

We tend to think of giving as something that will bless other people… and it does...
But what Paul is suggesting is that when we give we are even more blessed than the recipient of our gift.

Paul says I want you to give to God's work so that your gift may be credited to your account. He's not talking about our RBC or HSBC account he's talking about our account in heaven. When we give to God it builds some kind of heavenly account.

Jesus said don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also…

When we give--we store up a treasure in heaven—Jesus said where your treasure is there your heart will be also….

If we really want a heart that is centered in God as our treasure, one way this can happen is if we store up our treasure with God…

Today is Father's day… ever wonder how a dad (or mom) can love a son or daughter who seems to have no real virtue, no socially redeeming qualities? It's likely because from the time that child was very little, the father (or mother) invested… deeply in that child's life, prayed for that child, sacrificed time, money and a lot of sleep for that child! They've invested and invested and invested so that the child… though perhaps a treasure to no one else has become a treasure to that parent…

When we invest in God, through our tithes and financial giving and through our service: whether through a ministry to kids or the elderly, building a home for a poor family in Mexico, leading a small group… it's an investment that builds our treasure in heaven…

When we give and invest in the things of God… we think the others are greatest beneficiaries, but Paul is saying we are, because we are storing up a treasure in heaven, if treasure is there our heart will be there, and if our treasure and our heart is with God, we will experience contentment…

Paul…says your giving, he's talking about financial giving, but he would also say whether it's through service, prayer… it is credited to your account. Build your treasure there, set your heart on God, it transforms you…

There are always people who may for understandable reasons think they cannot tithe or serve others or pray for people… because they think they can't afford the money, or energy, or the time… Paul is aware of this as he writes to this impoverished church and so as he says, he wants to keep giving to the work of God, so that their giving can be credited to their heavenly account. Paul, right after he affirms the church at Philippi for their faithful giving; says “My God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus…” Again many people take this verse out of context, “God will always meet anyone's needs according to his riches…” and apply to everyone. But the context here is one where the promise is given to those who are honoring God in their giving that Paul says my God will supply their needs according to God's glorious riches in Christ Jesus…

Ken Davis tells a story about a pastor friend who went to visit some missionaries in Eastern Europe. He asked some friends who had been in the area for ideas about what he should bring with him. Everyone agreed that he would be wise to bring extra food to carry him over if food didn't agree with him.

One missionary had warned him that he might have to be ready to have some of his food confiscated by the customs officials.

As he wandered through the shop where he was buying his supplies the pastor was trying to think of the kinds of things he could take with him that would not catch the eye of a customs official. Or the kinds of things that would not spoil or that would serve as an energy boost (use props).

He also prayed.
“Lord you know the things I'll need and the things that will make it through customs. I'm just going to walk down these aisles, trusting you to prompt me to select the right items.”

He started to notice some things on the shelf which he put into his shopping trolley. There was a king-size pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. There were some tapioca pudding snack packs. He also took some cans of fruit cocktail, some gum and some hard candy. He thought that these would keep him going if he got hungry.

On the fourth day of his trip, he arrived in Timisoara, Romania. He was going to spend several days with some people who had worked there for fourteen months.

The conditions they lived in were not easy. They often had to go for days without heat and electricity. This pastor and his team were the first English speakers these missionaries had seen for six months. They had two teenage daughters who, as you could imagine were desperately missing everything American.

Just as he was about to leave, the American guest thought of the supplies he had brought with him on the trip. It occurred to him that although it was only October, it would be a nice idea to use the supplies to celebrate an early Christmas.

So he asked the teenage girls “If you could have one thing from North America, what would it be?”
“Candy,” they said with one voice.

“What kind?” he asked, thinking that they would happily take anything he had with him.
The mother chipped in at this point: “The girls love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but they're not available in this part of the world.”

So he reached into his rucksack and took out the king-size package he had brought with him.
He then asked their mother, “What item from back home would brighten your day?”
“I miss fruit”, she said, “especially citrus.” Out came a can of fruit cocktail and a tin of mandarin oranges.

By now everyone was laughing and wiping away the tears. There was still the father. The visiting missionary thought about removing the last few items and asking the father to make a selection from what was left. Two out of three miracles is not bad, why push it?!

But instead he asked the father, “Gary, what's your favourite dessert?” Gary smiled and said, “It's something no one else in the world likes – tapioca pudding.”

God is able to provide…

If we honor God he always provides all that we need, and sometimes he provides what we want…

Paul… says I've learned the secret of contentment by making Christ my treasure and by coming to believe that this treasure can supply all of our needs…

Some cynic might, say, well isn't it true that Paul ended spending 25% of his missionary life in prison and that he ended up dying in a Roman prison?

Yes, that's true…

But to Paul… all he needed was Christ… to live was Christ to die was gain…

When we realize that Christ is our treasure and that he can always deliver us, but are willing to lay our life down for Christ, the paradox is that when we are willing to lay our life for Christ, we experience the true life… Because living for Christ, when dying is gain is not the secret to contentment, it is the greatest life in the world.

(The sermon can be heard online at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)

June 11, 2006: Prayer, Beauty and Mellowness of Soul

Prayer, Beauty, and mellowness of soul June 11, 2006

If asked, most of us could list the main things necessary to be physically healthy…

What would the list include? They would include a healthy diet, adequate exercise, and sufficient rest/recovery time.

Now if we were asked to identify what the essential components are for a healthy spirituality… we might have to think a little harder…

Think about that for a moment…. Now I want you turn to one or two people around you and introduce yourself… and ask each other what do you think is one thing necessary for a healthy spirituality?

What do you come up with? (discussion in the large group)
Ronald Rolheiser in his important book… The Holy Longing describes what he considers to be the 4 essentials of a healthy spirituality:
1) Personal prayer and personal morality… or integrity… a life conformed to word…
2) Commitment to social justice
3) Being connected to a community of faith—we cannot succeed in the spiritual life alone, we need to walk with each other, give each perspective, remind us of things that we have to be grateful for…
4) Mellowness of Heart
In some people’s minds there is an image of the deeply spiritual person, as someone who is very serious, intense, hard-edged, and is always saying, “I don’t find that funny…”
But as Christ's followers of course we will mourn and grieve in times of loss, but our fundamental posture will be one of joy…
This morning as we look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we will focus on how to become a person of joy, gentleness, and gratitude, and peace… i.e. a person with a mellow heart…
Paul is no armchair academic…
Paul in about the year 60 AD is in prison in Rome for his proclamation that Jesus Christ, not Nero, is Savior and Lord… he’s chained by wrist or leg to a Roman guard… There’s no feeding system in the prison… so he knows what it is to go hungry. He writes to the people seeking to live out their faith in Philippi, a patriotic Roman military colony, where they are coming under fire for their faith…

So, Paul from a very difficult place of suffering writes to a people who are suffering for their faith… and remarkably, he writes a letter marked with buoyant joy and gratitude and calls the church at Philippi to live as people of joy and peace in their suffering…

This morning as we look at Philippians 4, we will look at how to become people who are mellow of heart—even during the hard times…

How are we live to live as people of joy, gentleness, gratitude and peace--people with a mellow heart even when facing the winds of adversity?

If you have your Bibles please turn to Philippians 4:

Paul writes:
Final Exhortations
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Paul’s in prison, writing to people who are suffering for their faith and he says:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (most of the people in Greco-Roman world couldn’t read so this letter is being read to church at Philippi and it will be as the word of God coming into their community) 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
One of the marks of the followers of Jesus Christ is that they live with joy and gentleness… the word gentleness more literally is translated “forbearance”—so it carries with the idea of responding with gentleness in the face of provocation.
As many of you would know if you’ve read in the article in the Courier or listened to CBC radio this past Tuesday morning, our church is coming under some fire from some people in this immediate area because of ministry here to the homeless.
Linda Gotts, our pastor who oversees those ministries, this past Tuesday on the CBC and at our meeting for the neighborhood… responded to some scathing things said against the ministry… with grace… (with clarity and strength) but also with gentleness.
Paul says when you’re under-fire don’t respond in kind with fire.
Paul says to followers of Jesus undergoing great persecution, rejoice in the Lord, let me say it again rejoice! Live as people of joy and let your gentleness be evident to all…
How do we become people like that?
He says in vs. 6 “Do not be anxious about anything…
Again the question: how do we become like that… less anxious people?
Paul says, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God…and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul is calling people who are facing great suffering and persecution to become people of joy, gentleness, and peace, but how?
Paul says pray…
Turn to God… In vs. 6 Paul uses 3 words for prayer: prayer, petition, request… but they are not materially different… (in the Greek the words go from more general prayer to a more specific asking)
So how are we to become people of joy, gentleness and peace…? by turning to God in prayer.
Without God, there’s good reason to be anxious in the face of life’s challenges, but if we know God we can have peace…
You know the slogan…
No (n.o.) God, no (no.no) Peace…
Know (k.n.o.w) God… know (k.n.o.w.) peace…
Paul says you become a person of joy and mellowness of heart and peace, if you turn to God in prayer…
But it isn't just any kind of prayer… that will lead to joy, gentleness and peace… mellowness of heart: but a prayer with thanksgiving…
Paul says, pray with thanksgiving.
It's interesting that Paul says pray with thanksgiving even before having the opportunity to determine how a particular prayer is answered or not… Pray with thanksgiving…
Part of the way we become people of joy and peace and mellowness of heart… is by praying and offering God thanks regardless of the outcome…
Again, Paul's not just some armchair academic here giving advising, he lives this way…
In the first chapter of Philippians he has said… if I end up surviving this imprisonment, I will live for Christ… but if I die that's gain too…!
Either way I give thanks…
At this final chapter Paul says… whatever my circumstances… whether I am in plenty or in want, whether I am well fed or hungry, I have learned to be content…
I have learned to give thanks…
Paul is really trusting God, the wise and loving providence of God… so even before he gets an answer he can pray with thanksgiving…
Part of the way we become people of joy and peace…mellowness of heart even in the midst of hardship is to pray.. but then to give thanks regardless of the outcome…
This means that we possess a deep trust in God's wise and ultimately loving purposes…
It means even when we don't see it… we trust God is working out his purposes…
I've shared this story before, but it bears repeating in this context.

Thomas Merton was a young person who had been a wild partying student at Columbia University, in NYC back in the 1930's. But he gave his life to Christ and a yearning grew within him to become part of a Trappist monastery.

But there was a strong possibility that because of his scandalous past he might be rejected by the monastery (he had just been rejected in an application to a Franciscan monastery), and might be drafted into the army.

He really wanted to be a monk in the monastery, but knew he might have to go to war.

In his autobiography the Seven Storey Mountain he writes:

It was a strange thing…Mile after mile my desire to be in the monastery increased beyond belief… I was altogether absorbed in that one idea and yet paradoxically mile after mile my indifference increased and so did my interior peace…

What if I were rejected by the monastery. Then would I go in the army? Would that be a disaster? No not at all. It would be clear that this was God's will…

I had done everything in my power to enter the monastery, the rest was in God's hands.

For all the tremendous desire to be in the monastery, the thought that I might find myself instead in the army camp, no longer troubled me in the least.

I was free… I belonged to God…not to myself…. I was free of all the anxieties and worries that belong to this earth…

Merton passionately longs to enter the monastery and not the war, but he trusts in God and leaves the future in his hands…
What Paul is calling us to do is to give thanks—even before we know what the answer to particular outcome will be and that involves trusting in God's wisdom and love…

In my preteen years (when I was 10,11, 12) years old, I loved motorcycles…. I loved going to the motorcycle shop looking and dreaming about saving up enough money to buy one… One day, my grandmother was visiting and our family went to the motorcycle shop… and I was admiring the motorcycles… I think I was 11 years old. My grandmother said… you like it… I can buy it for you right now… I was so happy for about 7 seconds, until I heard my mom's voice over… to my grandmother, her mom… No you're not… If you buy him that motorbike, you'll be responsible if he gets into an accident and hurt himself.
I'm thinking, mom, why do you have to ruin my life?
Why won't you let her buy me this beautiful motorcycle?
I guess in looking back… my mom knew what an absent minded, reckless kid I was and how many bicycle accidents I had had! She thought, I want to do what's best for Ken… I was thinking…. why are you trying to wreck my life!
And in looking back… I do know this that she did have my best interest in mind… when she said not to let me get the motorbike…
And I do know this… something may feel like God is wrecking our life… by not answering our prayer the way we want and I do know this that God has our best in mind, and unlike any earthly mother or father he has perfect foresight and has infinite wisdom…
If we believe that God really is infinitely wise and loving toward us, trust him even before God answers and even when God answers in a way that seems contrary to what we would have chosen, we can give thanks…
If we believe as John Newton, the former slave trader in the 18th century turned pastor and author of the hymn Amazing Grace that nothing that God sends us is unnecessary and nothing he withholds is necessary… we can give thanks to God before answer comes…
Larry Crabb last month talked here about how sometimes we pray for something that relates to our school, or work, or relationship, our family and it's not answered the way we want answered…
And we ask why?
Paul says even though our prayer may not be answered just the way we like we are to pray with thanksgiving…
(Pause to allow people to pray for a moment…)
Paul says pray with thanksgiving…
I want to be a person who lives this out.
Do you have anyone in your life who contacts you only when they need something?
I don't want to relate to God that way.
So, I find myself praying the prayer of George Herbert: “Lord you have given me so much, give me one more thing… a grateful heart.
Paul says pray with thanksgiving and the peace of God which transcends all human understanding will guard your heart, literally the word garrison, idea of a garrison of soldiers will march around and protect your heart… as we pray with thanksgiving we will have a peace that the world at large doesn't understand, a peace that comes directly from God and it garrisons our hearts in Christ…
So we become people of joy, gentleness, as we learn to pray with thanksgiving.
If we are grateful we will also be people of joy and we will become less hard edged and more gentle…
In vs. 8 Paul says

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble (sacred), whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

The first four words true, noble (which can be translated honorable or sacred), right, and pure, can all be directly connected to God and to Christ, but the next two words lovely and admirable come, at least linguistically, from the Greek Hellenistic culture…

What Paul is saying… as he calls us to dwell on what's true, noble, right, pure includes the call to spend time daily focusing on God in prayer and in Word, to do individually and to dwell in community, but we are also to expose ourselves to that which are lovely and admirable in the “world.”

If you were raised in a highly, conservative church the message from the leadership might have been you shouldn't listen to music not explicitly Christian music (maybe the leaders said or implied you can listen to Bill Gaither trio, Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant before she went mainstream) and the only movies you should watch are The Ten Commandments, Jesus, and Ben-Hur!

That's well intended, but not the most helpful counsel.

Because all truth is God's truth no matter where it's found. All beauty is God's beauty no matter where it's found.

A young child was reading C.S. Lewis' chronicles of Narnia and he wrote to C.S. Lewis. This child wrote, I think I’m in trouble I think I love Aslan the lion (Christ figure) more than Jesus. What should I do? And C.S. Lewis replied in a letter, "all that you love in Aslan is Jesus".

Wherever we see truth and beauty, we see a reflection of the image of Jesus.

When we meet Jesus face to face, everything beautiful we've ever seen, we'll see in Him.

So Paul seems to say… wherever you dwell on real truth and beauty wherever you can find it…whether in nature, art, music, books… people…

The corollary is: don't fill your mind and soul with junk… one helpful piece of advise I've received from my professors is read selectively…. don't feel you have to read every word from cover to cover, sometimes you just read the introduction and first chapter…. “If you want to read good books avoid, bad ones. Life is short…

Experience beauty through movies, but don't watch just anything… feel free even if you've paid $12 to walk out. It doesn’t make sense to damage your soul in some way… My wife and I were at a movie that I wanted to see, it was really violent, I noticed my wife flinching and turning, I said… do you want to leave… we've paid $12… it is not worth it, if it's disturbing you… let's go and we left…

Gustavo Gutierrez, a founder of liberation theology, says to have a healthy spirituality feed our souls in 3 says: prayer both in private and in community, practice justice, and mellowness of heart: so we must have good things in our lives: good friends, food and drink we enjoy, creativity, healthy leisure…

Gutierrez was passionately committed to seeing world transformed and become just…

He knows it would not happen, if we are always angry and intense… he recognizes what will change the world are people with a grateful heart… and mellow soul…

Remember Paul is not writing to the church at Philippi and to us so we have more healthy personal spirituality, but so we will be used as instruments to bring God to the world.

So Paul is saying by turning to God and praying with thanksgiving and filling our mind and heart with what is true and good and beautiful, we become a person of joy and gentleness and gratitude.

(The sermon can be heard online at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)

June 4, 2006: Knowing Christ - Philippians M6

Philippians M6 Knowing Christ June 4, 2006

I have a sister who was really into sports growing up. In high school, she excelled at volleyball, basketball, and later thrived as a martial artist.

A significant memory I have as a teenager is training and playing sports with her… Playing tennis and saying… shouting it was on line, it was out, in was on the line, it was out! Wonderful memories…

When she got into university… she fell in love with learning… and she envisioned her future not in sports, but as a scholar, researching and teaching at a university… that’s what she does now…

I remember her saying as an undergrad, I really regret how much time I spent playing sports in high school because she I feel it cut away from education… I feel behind everyone else now…

Do you know anyone who pursued something with great passion and then something else entered their life that was more important to them and what had been important to them was no longer important?

Perhaps you know someone who pursued their career like it was the most important thing on earth and then a loved one became terminally ill and they regretted they spent much time with their job and so little time with this loved one …and in comparison to their loved one, they came to despise the role work played in their life.

The apostle Paul had such an experience… prior to meeting Christ, his race, his culture, his education attainments, his religious achievements were everything to him, but after meeting Christ they became as nothing to him, as less than nothing…

This morning as we look at an autobiographical section of Paul’s life from Philippians we’re going look at how our attitudes toward things shift when we have an encounter with God through Jesus Christ…

If you have a Bible please turn to Philippians 3 vs. 1.

No Confidence in the Flesh
1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If others think they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in [a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
In vs. 2 When Paul says watch out for those dogs, those evil doers, those mutilators of the flesh who is he talking about?

He’s likely talking about Jewish Christians who believe that in order for Gentiles to become people of God, they need to first become culturally Jewish (i.e., they must follow certain dietary laws (no more ham sandwiches), observe certain days of the Jewish calendar, and they means that they must be circumcised--they must cut the foreskin of their sex organ…)

Paul calls these conservative Jewish people who are insisting that the Gentiles become circumcised in order to be coming into a relationship with God, “dogs” and mutilators of the flesh…

“Dogs” in this context would not have been a term of endearment, but a put down…

In this Greco Roman where Paul lives dogs were not adored, esteemed pets you would keep inside your home—they were scavengers, they were despised… Jews would sometimes call the Gentiles “dogs” as a put down to indicate they were unclean…

So, it’s really ironic that Paul calls these Jewish people “dogs.”

In high school, I had friend named Charles. He was a big, loud, tough guy of Korean ancestry… linebacker on the football team… and whenever he’d get really mad at some white person, he’s say you.. You Chink! I’m thinking I’m Asian… your Asian, your embarrassing me, you’re embarrassing you, you should not be calling people that.

Whenever Charles was really mad at some white person… he’d use this racial slur…

So, when Paul calls the Jews dogs, a slur word used describe the Gentiles, you know he’s mad about something…


Why is this a problem?

It’s a problem because it contradicts the message of the Gospel--which says it doesn’t matter whether you Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female… you can come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:28)!

It would be like say a small group leader at Tenth proclaiming the message to their small group, “In order for you to know God… you have first become a white female… Michael Jackson, pretty much proves you can be born a black male and move toward becoming a white female…”

A lot of us would go nuts, saying no you don’t have to be a white female to know God… all you need to do is to go through Christ… Paul is going nuts because people are saying in order to belong to God you must become culturally Jewish…

Paul is saying no, it’s not necessary to become a culturally Jewish to know God…

In order for Paul to bolster his credibility as a one speaking out against this idea, he points out to his readers that he no personal vested interested in rejecting the message of the conservative Jews, who say you must become culturally Jewish in order to be accepted by God…. because he qualifies to be accepted by God in their “system” because he has been the ideal Jew…

Paul points out that if the game of being accepted by God is being played based on the points you accumulate by being a respectable, religious Jew, Paul can compete with best…

Paul points out that he himself was circumcised on the 8th day of his life… he points out that he was Israelite of the tribe…of Benjamin, a Gentile could convert to Judaism and could be considered a part of Israel, but not a member of a particular tribe… Paul was born a Hebrew, was a member of the tribe of Benjamin… He was Hebrew of Hebrews. Some Hebrews were racially Hebrew, but culturally Greek… but Paul was both a Hebrew racially and culturally…. Paul in regard to the law was a Pharisee, the Pharisee though not regarded well today, in Paul’s day was highly respected lay movement that emerged that emphasized how a person need to be separated from the world through a strict observance to the law, as for righteousness based on the law faultless… he knows he’s not perfect, but he also knows that he has not broken the law in any significant way… so in that sense’s he’s blameless…

Paul says, I can compete in your system and beat you all… You want to play golf, I’m Tiger Woods…you want play the cello I’m Yo-You ma, you want to cook, I’m Rob Fennie…

Paul was someone who graduated with highest honors from Harvard and Oxford and had one the Pulitzer and Templeton prizes…

But, Paul says in vss. 7-8 these accomplishments mean nothing to me… compared to knowing Christ… Paul says… compared to Christ all these achievements are a loss and Paul uses the term “skubala” and it can means excrement… it’s a four letter word….

Paul says all those cultural and religious achievements don’t mean crap to me… compared to knowing Christ…

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are looking for something to save us…

When we meet the savior, Jesus Christ, the things that we thought would save us
are not as important to us… because we realize that they cannot save….

Many Asian believe that way to be “saved” in life is through a good education…

I’m Asian from a Japanese family and compared to a lot Asian families the kids in our home weren’t overtly pressured to succeed academically, but there was this expectation that each of the 5 would go to on to university… it was a longstanding family tradition… the expectation was you are not going to break it…

You ever been to a dinner party when every single person was having a glass of wine or dessert… and you didn’t want wine or dessert… no one was actually saying… you gotta have this Bordeaux or this chocolate moose is to die for, but because everyone was having some else you felt pressure…

That’s the way is was for me, and I especially felt pressure because I was for long the worst, most irresponsible student…

But then during my adolescence, my mother gave her life to Christ and the emphasis changed… it was still education is important but it’s not everything… I gave my life to Christ and fell in love with learning and I remember my senior year in high school my mom (who’s Ivy league educated) actually encouraging me as I was applying to schools not to put at the top of my list a school because it was prestigious or would generate the most income earning potential, but choose a school that would best shape my character so I could serve…

Last week I had dinner with my parents, I knew I’d be speaking on this I said, “Mom it seems during my adolescence something happened so you emphasized education less. Was that because you had (re)given your life to Jesus Christ? She said, yes… in fact, I would rather have my kids be in minimum wage jobs and know God, then to be in powerful, prestigious jobs and not know God…

When you come to Christ, then you realize the things you thought would save you no longer will--and in comparison they’re nothing, they’re expendable…

Do you have something in your life that you think will save you?

An education, a career, money, your beauty, your being liked, your being a decent moral person?

Most people think that the biggest impediment to coming to God in some kind of overt sin… I don’t think so. The biggest barrier that keeps a person from God is not typically some overt sin, but some other kind of savior, some other than God…

I have some people in my life who have been immensely successful…

Climbed the corporate ladder, achieved the pinnacle of their careers, ceo position… making oodles of money…

I think that what may be keeping these people from God are not their sins, but the fact they have this other savior their career…

Some of the hardest people to reach are culturally religious people, who think that their decency, civility and culture will save them…

A person who really comes to know the Savior Jesus Christ repents not only from their “sins” but from their other saviors…

Paul says my past accomplishments are nothing, my Harvard degrees and my Pulitzer and Templeton prizes are less than nothing… they are like skubula, like crap… empty… in comparison the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ…

Paul says now Christ is everything to me… what was previously everything is now nothing and what I previously blindly rejected is everything…

Paul says want to know Christ Paul says and the fellowship of his suffering and power of his resurrection…

Paul’s personal mission is to know Christ and the fellowship of his suffering…

Suffering for Paul involved suffering for Christ as he was persecuted and thrown into prison for his saying that Christ (not the Emperor Nero) is savior and Lord…

Paul did not see himself as just suffering FOR Christ, but in his suffering for Christ he saw himself suffering WITH Christ…
Helen Roseveare was a British medical doctor who worked for many years as a missionary in Zaire. During the revolution of the 1960s, she often faced brutal beatings and other forms of physical torture. On one occasion, when she was about to be executed, she feared God had forsaken her….
In that moment, she sensed the Holy Spirit saying to her: Twenty years ago you asked me for the privilege of being identified with me. This is it. Don’t you want it? This is what it means. These are not your sufferings; they are my sufferings. All I ask of you is the loan of your body.
Helen said, the pain was just as bad… But it was altogether different. It was in Jesus, for him, with him.”
And it is in suffering for Christ and with we experience resurrection life…

Most of us will not experience the kind of intense persecution for our faith that Paul or Helen Roseavre did—most of us will not be beaten and imprison because we follow the way of Jesus.

The hardship we face from others will be more subtle: because as we follow Jesus our values change… or we let people know that the most important thing in our life is Christ…what was important is no longer as important and what was not important is now everything… there may be some kick back because of that…

But Paul didn’t just suffer involuntarily at the hands of the Romans, but he suffered voluntarily as he offers his life in service for others. Paul says my life is like a drink offering being poured out for you.

Paul in Philippians 2 calls us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus to humble our selves and offer our lives is self-giving, self-emptying service for others…

Mother Teresa was once asked how much should I love? She said love till it hurts…

We can suffer involuntary through persecution, but voluntarily through offering lives in self-giving love to others…

When we do we suffer not just for Christ but with Christ and when we suffer with Christ we experienced new life, resurrection life…

The paradox is that as we choose suffering and death with Christ we experience real life and when we choose to try to save our lives by clinging to them we experience death…

This why Paul says: Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, we carry around in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal bodies….

This is why Paul says… I want to know Christ… how? Through the fellowship of his suffering and then the power of his resurrection…

Paul says:
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul says not that I have already all this… i.e. fully knowing Christ…

But I forgetting what lies behind… I press on to what is ahead…

I forget my past success, cultural pedigree, my educational achievements, my religious attainments, my haunting memories of having persecuted Christ’s church of having approved the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr..

Are there things that we need to forget? Past success, things we’ve proud of? Past failures, past humiliations, past pain?

And allow our life to defined not by our past, but our present relationship with Christ and our future resurrection with Christ…

If we are united with Christ in his death we will be united with him in his resurrection…

Alexandr Solzenytisyn the now famous Russian intellectual and dissent who suffered in the Soviet Gulag was working at a prison camp in Siberia.

He leaned on his shovel, watched grey cloud drag themselves across the sullen sky… his bones ached…and felt intense hunger pangs Siberian work camp…

He dropped his shovel… soon a guard would command him to go back to work he would ignore his command…

The guard would beat him to death… he had seen it happen before to many others…

Better to die quickly than the slow he was dying in the camp…

He stared at the ground waiting for inevitable… He head the thud of boots moving toward him… and braced himself….

But as he opened his eyes… he saw a gaunt elderly prisoner… before him and with a stick he drew a sign of the cross and quickly returned to the work…

The fellow prisoner was saying there is a reason to live and it’s the cross of Christ…

For Paul living meant Christ… not just in sense of being “saved” and having his sins forgiven… but his whole was life was “cruciform” it was formed by the cross…. The pattern of Christ’s life, his death, his resurrection became the pattern for his life…

For Paul this was his reason to live, it was Christ…the cross of Christ…

The reason was able to abandon himself to Christ was because Christ had abandoned his life to him…

The reason we can make our life goal to know Jesus is because he made his one goal to know us…

On the night Jesus was betrayed he was with his closed friends… and he took bread and said… this is my body given for you…

As you come say to Christ, I want you to enter me and live your life through me… I want to know Christ… participate in your suffering and your resurrection…

Benevolent fund Indonesia…

(The sermon can be heard online at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)