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)
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)
posted by Shigematsu at 10:47 AM
1 Comments:
Hi,
I am a musician who has been impacted by Keith Green and I would be honored if you would check out my music, all music is free to download. I just wanted to share my music with People who love Jesus. www.SeanDietrich.com
I don't want to be a pest, so if this really annoys you, please delete it and accept my humble apology.
Thanks so much,
-Sean
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www.SeanDietrich.com
"All my music is free."
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