Sermon manuscript:
Unfortunately, the apostle Paul did not write dates on the
letters that he wrote. That would have saved some people a lot of trouble. Big
books have been written to defend one person or another’s dating and ordering
of his letters. Although he didn’t write dates on his letters, sometimes there
are statements or clues within the letter that make it clear when Paul wrote it.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is one of those letters
that we can be sure about when it was written. Paul mentions in this letter
that he is chains. The reason why he is in chains is because he has been taken
prisoner by the Roman government. We know about that from the book of Acts.
Since Paul is a prisoner who is in chains while he writes this letter we can be
sure that he wrote this during the last years of his life. Eventually Paul
would be put to death after having been a prisoner and after having been
shipped to Rome.
Knowing the times and circumstances of Paul’s writing of
this letter throws a different light on many of the things that he writes. For
example, he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again, rejoice!”
Rejoice always; not rejoice occasionally. And when Paul says this he is not sipping
piña coladas on the beach in Acapulco. No. He is in chains. He is on his way to
his death.
That’s another thing that’s helpful to keep in mind. Death
is coming for Paul. He can see it. What, then, is on his mind? Is he thinking
back on all the good memories? Is he wishing that he had taken a little more
time for himself? Does he wish that he had taken that trip to Acapulco? No,
it’s just the opposite. He is not looking backwards and admiring himself as
though he were looking in a mirror. He is looking forward to the things that
are ahead.
The portion of his letter that was read for our Epistle
reading today speaks about this. He is not looking back. He is looking forward.
There are dark clouds on the horizon for him, but he is not deterred. It is almost
as though the dark clouds don’t affect him, or perhaps that the anticipated
trouble makes him even bolder.
Thus Paul has something to teach us. Some of you have somewhat
of an idea of what those dark clouds might be for you. Others can’t be sure
what dark clouds might be in store for them. One thing we can be certain of, is
that the dark clouds are bound to come eventually, even if we don’t like
thinking about that. In light of this prospect are we going to look backward to
earthly things or are we going to look forward to heavenly things? Paul would
have us look forward.
Although Paul would have us look forward, it was not as
though he was ignorant of what can be achieved with earthly things. At the
beginning of our reading Paul says, “But even more than that, I consider
everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ
Jesus, my Lord.” We are jumping into the middle of an argument that Paul is
making. What is Paul referring to when he says, “I consider everything to be
a loss”?
Paul had just gotten done talking about how his former life
was, frankly speaking, excellent. Paul had excellent credentials. He was a man
who was going places. He could have risen high in the ranks of Judaism. He had
the right education. He knew the right people. He was a go-getter. Whatever he
might have wanted to achieve, he had the talent and the energy to accomplish
it. This is what people want. But these are the things that he is referring to
when he says, “I consider everything to be a loss for the sake of knowing
Christ.”
Let’s put what Paul says into more modern day terms. Paul
possessed and was in the process of possessing the best Jewish life of his
times. What Paul had, other people really wanted. We live in quite different
times, and so people’s idea of what makes for a good life is also different.
Just so we can understand the significance of what he means when he says that
he considers everything to be loss, let’s put it into today’s terms.
Sometimes folks’ idea of a good life gets put onto
decorations. I’ve seen decorations that say, “Faith, Family, Fun.” If we can
check those boxes, then it is quite probable that our life is quite nice.
Advertisements are always trying to sell us things that are supposed to make us
happy. So in order to sell things advertisements will paint an idyllic picture of
life for us. Good looking people having good times with good families and good
friends. You can paint as idyllic of a picture as you might want. This is what
Paul says he considers to be loss.
Why and for what? He considers all these excellencies to be
loss because of what is worth far more: Knowing Christ Jesus, his Lord.
His answer for why and for what he considers other things to be a loss contains
few words, but the words are very important: “Knowing Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
We might think that knowing isn’t that big of a deal. We
know lots of things about lots of things. But it’s different when you know
someone with power, resources, and authority. When people say that they know
the owner, or the governor, or the president, the implication is that such a
one can give special treatment. Knowing someone carries with it the connotation
that the one saying it is known and (this is important) liked by that person in charge.
There’s something similar with knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
Along with Paul’s knowing of Christ is also his belief in being justified in
him, of being right and approved in him. Paul goes on to say that being in
Christ means that he does not have a righteousness of his own (which would be
rather flabby, hit and miss). He doesn’t have a righteousness that comes from
him, which comes from the Law, but that in Christ he has a righteousness that
comes through faith in Christ. This is not his own righteousness, but through
faith he is given the very righteousness of God. (God’s righteousness is not
flabby, but perfect.) So not only does Paul know the One who sits at the right
hand of God the Father, with all power and authority, but he also knows
according to God’s promises that he is known and liked by that powerful one.
That is of great advantage. If we know the president or the governor, that’s
one thing. Knowing Christ is more advantageous by orders of magnitude.
But this is where this analogy of knowing someone in the
halls of power falls a little flat. When you know powerful people, that might
be of great advantage to you, but you might not actually care that much about
the person in power. Knowing the governor or the president might just be for
the purpose of squeezing something out of that relationship. Knowing the powers
that be is for the purpose of getting beyond them—using them—perhaps for wealth
or prestige or some other advantage for yourself. That is not how it is with
knowing Christ.
With knowing Christ there is nothing beyond him. When you
know Christ, you know God. There is no wealth or advantage that is beyond God. Jesus
says in John 17: “This is eternal life, knowing the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom God has sent.” Knowing God by knowing Jesus is the end point
and the goal. It is eternal life. Knowing God is beyond our comprehension and imagination,
but it is the reason why Jesus was sent. It was so that we sinners, having attained
a righteousness that is not our own, may know God.
Here we should address a common defect in the way that
people look at Jesus. A lot of Christians do not think about knowing Jesus as
the goal or the endpoint of their life as a Christian. They consider Jesus to
be a means to an end. It’s like he’s someone in high places that you can use
toward your own advantage. And so their thinking is like this: All their love,
all their energy is in accumulating and enjoying the earthly pleasures of life.
Jesus, for them, is just a handy way to have the slate wiped clean when they
die. They get their sins forgiven and they don’t end up in hell. This makes
Jesus of great advantage to them according to their way of thinking. However,
all their love, all their zest, all their interest has nothing to do with God.
They love the things of this earth. They want to suck all the marrow out of
life so that they are left with nothing but a dry bone when they are through
with it.
Knowing Jesus, believing in Jesus, just for the sake of
staying out of hell is a very deficient way of thinking. It paints God as being
only a judge, only someone who needs to be appeased, so that the good times can
keep rolling. What is loved is what has come before—what is loved are the
things of this earth. There is no striving and straining for the future. There
is no desire to know God, the Creator. What is loved are all the created
things. There is no love or very little love for the Fountain and Source of all
goodness. “Eternal life is knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
he has sent.”
Bring to mind, again, the times and circumstances in which
Paul finds himself. He is writing in chains. Death looms on the horizon. And
yet this man writes in this letter, “Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say
it again, rejoice.” Paul has his sights set on what lies before him. He is
not looking back on his life. Although his life was none too shabby, he considers
it to be loss and garbage and even dung compared to the surpassing greatness of
knowing Christ. He is on his way forward. He is on his greatest adventure. He
is on his way to meet God.
The slight bumps and hiccups that might happen on the way,
such as having your head chopped off, are just that—slight bumps and hiccups.
As far as you are concerned, it does not seem likely that you will have your
head chopped off. The slight bumps and hiccups on your way to meet God might be
chemotherapy or paralysis or the inability to breathe. These and many other
things are dark clouds. They are going to cause some turbulence. But you are on
your way. They are not going to stop you. You are going to reach your
destination because God is going to see to it.
Paul says, “There is one thing I do: Forgetting the
things that are behind and straining toward the things that are ahead, I press
on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
I’d like to point out how different this is from how we normally operate, which
is a shame, and what peace we often forfeit thereby.
The normal way that we operate is that we are always looking
forward to the prospect of good earthly things happening. We look forward to
having bad things go away, and for our future to be filled with pleasant
experiences. Even when folks become terminally ill, they often desperately hold
on to whatever earthly hopes they can scrape together for themselves. Then,
when they are on their deathbed, or after they have died, all of a sudden
everybody changes gears. Instead of looking forward to better days (which are
no longer possible) they look back on the good days that have been had.
Notice how pretty much the opposite of the way that Paul is
thinking. He is not desperate for a change in his fortunes. He’s in chains.
He’s on his way to the executioner. If his situation would change and improve,
undoubtedly he would thank God for that, but that is not where his sights are
set. If it happens, fine. If not, he’ll be fine that way too. This is not of
ultimate concern. Instead, his sights are set on what lies ahead. He’s going to
meet God. He knows Jesus, therefore he knows God who sent Jesus. He knows that
God forgives him and approves of him for Jesus’s sake. He’s on his way to him.
So we might all learn something from Paul today. It’s very
different from what is common in general, and even in our own circles. We put
too much value on earthly things and hardly consider the greatness of knowing
Jesus and knowing God. As someone who knows Christ, and is known by him, you
may look forward to your approaching death, not as some kind of screeching
halt, but the door to eternal life. Again, as Jesus said, “Eternal life is
knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.” Death is like
turbulence you might experience on an airplane. Maybe the turbulence will be
quite rough, distressing and painful. But we get on airplanes to go somewhere.
Despite whatever turbulence God will have you experience, there is 100%
metaphysical certainty that your plane is going to arrive safely. You are going
to meet God.
No comments:
Post a Comment