Sermon
Paul’s Present
Last
week Dr. Hobson led us through the first part of Chapter 3 with great skill and
clarity. He took us through this passage that reminded us of Paul’s past
of the people of
And what did Darrell say… Paul
counted it all as meadow muffins. Well said.
The past was behind, and what
was ahead is there in verse 10:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.[2]
Today we move to this next
passage with an emphasis on Paul’s present. This emphasis on Paul’s
present… that which lies between the past and eternity (resurrection)… should
give
us all opportunity to consider the present.
It
might put us in mind of this fellow.
Does anyone recognize him?
1992 Vice Presidential candidate
on an independent ticket with Ross Perot: Admiral James Stockdale. He passed
away at age 88 last July; he was truly a great American: brilliant, hero,
patriot.
But most of us remember him for
the way he introduced himself on the nationally televised debate in 1992, on
the stage with Dan Quayle and Al Gore, when the first words from his mouth
were: Who am I? Why am I here?
Ever
ask yourself those questions? Do you ever slow down long enough to ask those
questions?
Stockdale was asking the
question because he almost instantly went from enjoying the life of an elder
statesman, war hero, and academic to then being in the national spotlight.
We ought to ask ourselves the
questions, at least from time to time, especially when we wake up and realize
that we’re a long way from what we used to be.
This passage begins to answer
the questions about what lies between all our yesterdays and eternity. So…
let’s walk through the text and understand what it means.
The
first question we need to ask here is:
What is the all this? There is sort of an implied therefore here… the all this comes from the preceding verses
(10-11). Paul is acknowledging that he has not attained:
·
Full knowledge of Christ
·
The power of Christ’s
resurrection
·
The fellowship of Christ’s sufferings
·
Christ likeness in death (to
self)
·
And ultimately, resurrection
These are the goals, they are
already fully purchased on our behalf by Christ’s life, suffering, death and
resurrection… they are already… but they are not
yet… not yet realized in this Christian life.
We ought to read “perfect” here
not in terms of qualities or behavior… but more accurately as whole, or finished, or complete.
If
Paul were enrolled in the
Isn’t the language here rich?
“… to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Paul here
addresses some of the greatest mysteries, at least in my mind, of the Christian
life.
·
Who is holding who?
·
Who is in control?
·
Whose action is important?
·
What is the balance?
I flash back to a picture in my
mind from my childhood. I’m a product of the suburbs… this image might be more
powerful if I was a country kid
because this image would be more quaint if it was a tractor. But there was no acreage…
no John Deere… just a ¼ acre lot and a riding lawn mower. The image is of me driving
the riding lawnmower… at something like age 5. I thought I was driving… I
thought I had taken hold… but you better believe that my father had hold of me.
It is an imperfect comparison…
but we can get a bit of a feel of how there are hands over the hands on the
steering wheel of our lives. There are eyes that see far more than we see
looking over our shoulder.
Paul
goes on that he is pressing on, but the prize is not yet in his grasp. He turns
to this athletic metaphor… painting a picture of one who is running a
race.
With eyes forward… not looking around. Aren’t we so easily
distracted by looking around… comparing ourselves to one another… comparing
ourselves to those around us. Paul says “none of that.”
With eyes forward… not looking
behind. The passage says “forgetting what is behind” which might seem so
unreasonable. But that doesn’t mean amnesia… it means, not letting what is
behind to hold us back in anyway. Learning from what is behind… but not
crippled by what is behind. Not even comparing ourselves today to what we used
to be yesterday. Eyes forward.
Staining
toward what is ahead. This speaks of tension:
·
Past and Eternity
·
Evil and Perfection
·
Self and the Gospel
Pressing on toward God, heaven…
Jesus.
Paul
uses an interesting choice of words here. What is translated as mature
here is, at its root, the same as what is translated as perfect earlier. Paul is
saying, this is the way you’ll think as you are in pursuit of heaven… pressing
on.
This last little bit isn’t a
show of pride… “think like me or God will straighten you out.” It is a show of
confidence in God. That even if we have some sort of shades of difference in
our understanding, as we press on, God will clear these sorts of things up for
us. Our confidence is in God to not just set-out our path, but also to
transform our mind and thinking.
And
finally Paul seals this with a familiar strain… let us live up. We have a citizenship is heaven… let us so
live in a manner worthy of the Gospel. It is back to that already and not yet… we
have already attained heaven (resurrection) since we are those who belong to
Christ… but it is incumbent upon us to now live up to the Gospel. To worship
God with our devotion, work, service to others, focus on wholeness, completion,
holiness, and eternity.
So…
what do we take away with us today?
What can we apply to make a
difference in our lives… and what of this might make a difference in the lives
of those around us?
What about us today? Who am I
and Why am I here?
And what about the people we’ll
come into contact with tomorrow?
If
we had to boil this passage of Scripture down to two words, I think they could
be press
on.
Press on
is a message that seems to fit just fine with our culture today. We generally
work hard. We are generally survivors. We excel. We succeed.
But the point is that our
culture presses on for today… or maybe tomorrow. We work hard by
day, so we can play hard by night. We are a culture who finds our happiness in
our friends and families and our pleasure in things. We press on for all sorts
of prizes: vacations, houses, cars, fame, fortune… even health. We press on to
the point of becoming death defying.
We last longer… and look better longer.
But God calls us to press
on for something beyond today or even tomorrow… God calls us to press
on to gain eternity. Our culture
really doesn’t get eternity… I don’t
even think our church culture gets
eternity.
Think about the songs we sing,
for example. For the most part, we sing about the here and now… about our present love for God, His goodness, power,
and blessing. That’s a really good thing… but I think it reveals a mindset. A now
sort of mindset… because the truth is, now
is pretty good.
Who sings about heaven? Swing
low sweet chariot…
The oppressed sing about heaven.
Those who cannot figure out a way to have any hope in the present sing about
heaven… they press on with an otherworldly
prize in mind.
This morning God is calling us
to press on with an otherworldly prize in mind. To press on for sure… but to realign our
focus on the prize of eternity… and to live our lives in such a way that
eternity is apparent, and attractive, to all those around us.
That is part of the point too…
part of the so what… isn’t it. Paul used this athletic metaphor… reminding
us that we too, just like a runner in a coliseum, we too have spectators.
Lets live our lives in such a way that eternity is apparent, and attractive, to
all those around us.
Father – we hear you call this
morning to press on.
·
To start the race
·
Focused on eternity
·
Making eternity not only real to
us… but to those around us too