Transcript
Speaker: Yes. It's a good sound to hear. It means it's working.
Speaker: Greetings and welcome to another episode of this Sunday podcast. I am Pastor Matthew Hardaway, alongside me is Dr. and Pastor Phil O 'Brant. Every week we take a look at one of the upcoming readings for the church year, particularly for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. I know the Revised Common Lectionary will sometimes deviate a little bit from how we do it, but that's not a bad thing. it's
Speaker: It's still God's Word. So this week we are going to be looking at Philippians chapter 3. This is for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost or proper 22. As always, I'll open this up with a collect for that Sunday and then let Dr. Brandt kick us off in our discussion.
Speaker: We pray. Gracious God, you gave your son into the hands of sinful men who killed him. Forgive us when we reject your unfailing love and grant us the fullness of your salvation.
Speaker: Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. who lives and dreams with you and the Holy Spirit. When God it now and forever. Amen. Amen.
Speaker: You gave your son into the hands of sinful men. Um, That's a... ah Such a deep, deep mystery. You know, that that... that this salvation God works out through the cross is just so...
Speaker: So... unfathomable. That's... that it would he would use this this mechanism of our... of our Um,
Speaker: sinful, uh, That was like the worst day ever. Yeah. you know when When. When humanity... took the one man who had ever been good.
Speaker: and hung him on a cross. And. And you just go. How messed up. Are we? and and And that God would use that.
Speaker: event that that Terrible day. And. And to the point that we call it good. Friday. yeah I mean, God's Friday. This is this is when he but he does this this this really, really amazing thing. and You just go.
Speaker: that That makes that, you know. there There is no way in the world anybody would ever think of that. No. Absolutely not. It is just so bizarre. That that he would do that.
Speaker: um I was... ah Uh,
Speaker: I was reading a ah recently, I was reading a... a um Uh, an interchange between or an exchange between um a Christian and a Jewish guy about this very issue. and um and and and And the Jewish guy is...
Speaker: is is really very sympathetic and and is very well read. in in Christian terms and is is not a hostile. Jewish theologian. Do you know what I mean? That that some Jewish theologians, you know they're very, very hostile. But this guy's not. And this was a really wonderful conversation between them.
Speaker: And he was he was referencing the passage we had. ah you know, a few weeks ago in Romans where Um... We're...
Speaker: You know, Paul talks about how the disobedience Of the. of of the Jews has resulted in the gospel going out into the world. And the the Christian guy talked about that. and and And the Jewish guy said, look, can I can i recast that just a little bit? um and And he did an exegesis of that passage in the Torah where it says, you know. um if anybody comes and preaches a different God than the one you have known,
Speaker: Right? Um, and and And it's really interesting. It says, In that day, the Lord your God is testing you.
Speaker: Um, And then he goes on to say, and that prophet should be put to death. If anybody prophesies in the name of the Lord, a different God than the one you are. you are You are out. you've been called to now.
Speaker: That is God testing you, and you should be put to death. And... ah uh
Speaker: And.
Speaker: In Paul, it says the disobedience. of the Jewish people. and and And the Jewish scholar was very interesting. He said, I wonder if... you know, i He says, I get what you're saying, and and i I see what you're doing.
Speaker: what what you're what you're talking about. and um but he said from the Jewish perspective. you know, Jesus really was saying something radically different. And and that the that the Jewish people of his day might have read this passage in...
Speaker: In the Torah, and heard Jesus say something that was radically different. and they would have... that they would have um Ah.
Speaker: thought that what they were doing was obedience.
Speaker: And that that was um that that was faithfulness, actually. which put Jesus on the cross that day. and and he said he says you know And he says, I really wrestled with this because... because the The Torah seems to imply that this person... who is teaching us about this other, this different God than the one we have known.
Speaker: is actually a messenger from God testing us. thank that he's actually doing what he's supposed to be doing. right And then we kill him.
Speaker: and And he said, I don't understand that God. And... ah ah And i thought it was I thought he was just on the verge. of actually kind of acknowledging Jesus for who he is and and all this um and I think the one thing That he couldn't that he couldn't do and couldn't really... um a C.
Speaker: Um. And that that would have made all the difference in the world. was the resurrection.
Speaker: That that that in a sense and and you see this in Paul's writing all the time, and we're going to talk about this in just a minute, is that is that It's the resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker: that validates what Jesus said.
Speaker: And that that Paul... was certainly imagining that his persecution of Christianity and of the followers of Jesus was the right thing to do.
Speaker: Because they were following this. this heretical prophet. who was teaching the Jewish people to follow a different kind of God.
Speaker: than the one they had known. I mean, even Jesus' statements of, you know, I and the Father are one, and, and you know, that Jesus seems that I'm God. the incarnation.
Speaker: Um.
Speaker: He said, he said you know from From the Jewish perspective, he said, I could almost have... bought that, but some of that was was just too far out out of bounds. And so you know he he was he was kind of arguing that. day.
Speaker: that Paul's words, and and that for a Christian to to apply Paul's words, to the Jewish people of Jesus' day. May not have been actually. appropriate but rather and And he didn't really go this far, but I think what he would really have...
Speaker: probably said is that the disobedience came. in the rejection of the resurrection. that that actually the Jewish people in crucifying Jesus
Speaker: Might have. legitimately read their Torah and said, this is the obedient thing to do.
Speaker: um I just find that really, really interesting because. That. That idea is going to come up. In this passage, we're going to read just now as Paul talks about and reflects on his life before.
Speaker: Christ and after. And I think what is are before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, you know, is that. Is that what? What really makes the difference in all of that is is not Jesus' morality.
Speaker: It's not Jesus. um teaching or Jesus ah kindness and love and all. It's the resurrection.
Speaker: that That when God raised him from the dead. God was. in a sense, validating, putting an imprimatur, was really declaring Jesus to be the arbiter of truth.
Speaker: and the arbiter of faithfulness. that that that faithfulness and truth and life and things, they're now measured. how do they How do they stack up to what Jesus says, does, and and approves of? That that that he, ah in effect...
Speaker: supplants Torah.
Speaker: And. uh that that and And that that was where where the Jewish people... Dindo Bay.
Speaker: was was in in in recognizing that. that piece, not so much. in the Good Friday event. that the Good Friday event was not so much a disobedience.
Speaker: But the disobedience would have come. post -resurrection. It was a fascinating little peek on that. Um, And ah I mean, I don't know that I fully buy it. I don't know where exactly I am with that, but I just thought it was a very interesting. Very interesting article. I think it's really good for us to be reading and... and and encountering ideas like that that make us think differently.
Speaker: about These passages we know so well. that we that we think we understand. and And I would really argue. I'm not sure we understand.
Speaker: I'm not sure we can ever say we understand. Well, even even looking back at Good Friday and the Collect for... Yeah. For us as and as Christians, well yeah like long or mature, been around the block a lot, that first sentence, you gave your son into the hands of sinful men who killed him.
Speaker: like Our brain immediately goes to Rome and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. and and And then, you know, then it spins on a dime or on a dot. Forgive us when we reach reject.
Speaker: Right? like the We're the ones who usually give it. Right. Wait, wait. i reach Wait, no. Oh, wait, maybe. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, let's let's get into this text. Yeah let's do that This text has just some wonderful things to say. This is from ah the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians. Remember, last week and the week prior, we've been talking about this is Paul's, you know, his essay, his teaching on on healthy joy.
Speaker: And and we we said that that really is. is you This letter is really important because it's it's not Paul really solving a problem. problem in the Philippian congregation. It's really Paul. giving them a vision. of what this Christian life is like, and and that he locates that in joy.
Speaker: is just so interesting. Um, And so here in chapter 3, we miss the first few verses. and yeah And Paul says, finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.
Speaker: um And he goes on to talk a little bit. He says, look out for these. He's talked about the dogs, the mutilators of the flesh. And and i I've always read that and thought, okay, he's talking about... The circumcision crowd.
Speaker: You know, the the people who are insisting that the only way to meet with God's favor is. to is to mutilate the flesh. Um, uh and And so Paul says, don't.
Speaker: Don't imagine that that. That because you have gotten circumcised or you've circumcised your children or something like that, that you now. have a leg up on God's favor.
Speaker: and And he uses this term, don't put confidence in that. Don't trust in that. Notice he doesn't say don't do it.
Speaker: But he just says don't. think that That's why. You are. Beloved of God. He says, um He says, if anyone has a reason for confidence in the flesh, and that's where our text starts.
Speaker: I have more. All right. paul says Paul says, if you want to play this game. I'm way better at it than you are.
Speaker: I was circumcised on the eighth day? ah which is what the Torah demands. I'm of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin.
Speaker: A Hebrew of Hebrews. And this this is really kind of interesting. Notice he doesn't say I'm a Jew.
Speaker: Because he's not technically a Jew. Because the Jews are of the tribe of Judah. That's where jew and that's where that term comes from. He's technically of the nation of Israel.
Speaker: And. Because he's... of that little remnant of the tribe of Benjamin that's left. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. He's kind of gone all the way back. That that word Hebrew goes all the way back to, that that's the word they regularly used for the... yeah Ah.
Speaker: for the people at the time of the Exodus. Those were the people who came out of slavery, were the Hebrews. And so he's going all the way back to that. Quora kind of language. As to the law, as to the Torah...
Speaker: I was a Pharisee. And... And that. That's a... cadre of people who are who are zealous in their keeping of the of the rules of the Torah.
Speaker: As to Zeal... Okay, so how much of a Pharisee was I? I was a persecutor of the church. I was a. persecutor As to righteousness under the law, I was blameless.
Speaker: Now that one always kind of strikes us as weird. You know, I mean... I'm I'm a good Lutheran, raised in a Lutheran home, and one of the things that just got ground into me was, you're never you can never say you're blameless.
Speaker: You know, you can never say, but you can say that, um but, but. In. In Paul's understanding of that, and and I think maybe Lutherans, we need to kind of... Remember, we do have a...
Speaker: an ability to say that. Because... Um, The way ah a Jewish person would have understood blamelessness that way wasn't that they were They were perfectly moral and they they never asc sinned.
Speaker: but that they were They were in that relationship of Torah, which said, I bring my sins to God. God graciously forgives them. through this sacrificial system, through this um through this this covenantal relationship I have with God.
Speaker: God forgives me. so So I'm still in that covenant, and hence God makes me blameless. I think. That. that Lutherans and and And Christians...
Speaker: also can make this claim. You know, I... I went to church. I confessed my sins and my pastor forgave them. Therefore, those sins are gone.
Speaker: And I am. no longer to be blamed. for them. They have been forgiven. And that means I am.
Speaker: Blameless.
Speaker: Or at least the next 37 minutes. to Yeah, right, right, right. that's i but but i mean i And I think what what a Jewish person would do is is is what a Christian person should do, too, is they I live in that state of grace.
Speaker: I live in that kind of, that I swim in that forgiven, that that that baptismal forgiving water all the time. and And that doesn't mean I...
Speaker: I never sin. That doesn't mean I have no fault. that When I say blameless, that those are that's not what I mean at all. It's just that I am... I am. Uh...
Speaker: I am living in this Torah, or in our case, living in this baptismal covenant. in which God. promises that he always turns a fatherly loving eye toward me and forgives me all my sins.
Speaker: you know, and so You know, if if I If I... um If I... you If I don't get to confess my sins just before I die, that doesn't mean...
Speaker: I've still i've got a couple left there that I haven't solved for the last few minutes of my life or something like that. Amen. I think for us, it's that. I would not be able to tell you who penned the song. I just know it from Concordia publishing houses
Speaker: Sunday school materials. I was baptized, happy day. All my sins were washed away. God looked down on me and smiled. I became his own dear child. Right. We talked about that before on the show, that fatherly love. Right. Yeah. yeah yeah It doesn't make it okay, but God knows we're going to stumble. We're going to fall. Right.
Speaker: Yeah. That's the baptismal grace that we live in. Not to give us permission to sin, of course, but we don't have to live in dread and fear that if I move my finger half an inch the wrong direction...
Speaker: I'm going to get smited by God's giant almighty thumb coming down. Or or if i if I happen to have if i happen to have you know said a hard word to somebody and then get run over by a bus.
Speaker: Yeah. i'm I'm in some state of of impenitence. um because I didn't have a chance to say I'm sorry to that person before I died. Yeah. Right. it doesn't work that way um we we We can say, and I think we need to own that. you know that that that you know we that That wonderful Lutheran... ah ah Uh, uh tension we have of sinner and saint.
Speaker: You know, sometimes we just focus way too much on the sinner.
Speaker: And we fail to... I guess I even acknowledge the saint. you know Lutherans love Lent way too much. we and And I never want to discourage somebody from from from repentance. but But at the same time, there's also a season when we need to...
Speaker: we need to acknowledge the gracious love of God to us. and and his love and and to rejoice in the fact he has made me. a perfect child of God.
Speaker: Yeah, we will lament as pastors. Yeah. what attendance looks like the Sunday after Easter. Well, yeah, yeah. yeah And it's like, you know, we've had this huge. You can always turn turn anything into a judgment to make on people, but we.
Speaker: you know But maybe they they aren't there because they're owning their forgiveness and they're out having fun. Right, right, but both ways or it's you know, well, I'm not gonna get to hear how horrible rotten and perfect of a sinner I am so I got Easter last week. Right.
Speaker: Right. But the grown -up version of that song you sang, I think, is that wonderful hymn in the in the hymnal now, God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It. God bless.
Speaker: Yeah, that's that's, you know, I'm baptized into Christ. and And it has that great line, you know, where it says, you drop your ugly accusation. Right? I'm baptized into Christ. You you can't accuse me. I am.
Speaker: I am blameless. if That was just a lot harder to sing without practicing it did it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. and If you get off on the wrong note to start that one, it's just a... But it's a greenie. So Paul talks about this. He says, I was this son of the covenant. And I was i was in the...
Speaker: i i i was I was deep into this Torah covenant relationship of of this zealous... and and And he said, um persecuting Zealous.
Speaker: Judaism. in which I was I really thought I was doing the right thing.
Speaker: He said, but now whatever gain I had. I count it as loss for the sake of Christ. Christ. He said, All of that... Old stuff.
Speaker: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them as rubbish. in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law.
Speaker: but from But that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God that depends on faith. That I may know him. And here we get, and the power of his resurrection.
Speaker: it's it's that It's that when he encountered Jesus raised from the dead.
Speaker: that that that Paul looks at all of that old stuff. Um, Which, let's be honest. it he He was reading his Torah. He was reading the Bible and saying, I want to do that.
Speaker: But. In Paul... and in in the in the in the nature of things and in the nature of his humanity. He had come to count on his circumcision and on his... His place in the in that that lineage of Abraham's descendants of being and ah of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. and ah ah ah uh
Speaker: you know You know, that he was circumcised on the eighth day, all of those things, the son of the covenant, all of those things. And and that what Jesus' resurrection from the dead. told him was I've been trusting all the wrong things.
Speaker: and And now... And now my goal is, you know yeah and All of that just... All of that suddenly became worthless to me. All of that just became junk.
Speaker: um and and And I would lose it all.
Speaker: that I could gain. What I saw that day. on that road to Damascus. Christ. I want to be found in him.
Speaker: I don't want the righteousness that comes because I'm a Torah keeper. I want the righteousness that comes because... He's the Torah keeper.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So that I may know him and the power of resurrection that I may share in his suffering. and become like him in his death. so that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Speaker: I won. that. Um, I think. I think this passage... right here and and and the stuff that follows. Let's just finish this. I'm going to talk a little bit more about... ah a serious misreading of this text that that comes up, and and I think the the healthy reread of it.
Speaker: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. But I press on to make it my own. The language Paul uses here is is oftentimes...
Speaker: um and and has for a long time been recognized. that This is the language of somebody who's running. A race runner. You know, somebody who's who is engaged in in an athletic.
Speaker: contest. Brothers, I do not consider that I've made it my own. He says, I'm not there yet. But one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
Speaker: There's that running, you know, that I'm... um'm i'm ah I'm. I'm in the last. the last hundred yards of the race. Okay. You know, and I'm just laying it all out there. I press on toward the goal.
Speaker: for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Speaker: I think this passage right here. It really has to be. heard in the context of of that. that that That verse in the... in the first chapter of philippines that we heard earlier and that is that that That Paul has confidence that he who began a good work in you.
Speaker: We'll bring it to completion on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. and and And it's really important to remember that the subject of the verb there. though The doer.
Speaker: is God. Yeah. All right. Because. um Uh,
Speaker: This passage has... contributed to a fundamental misreading of scripture that has been around, you know, for like 1600 years or more.
Speaker: and continues, it persists to this very day. Um, Probably the... the the The name that gets associated.
Speaker: with it most is a is a late Fourth early. a fifth century heretic by the name of Pelagius. um And, and. And I've got to be honest, when when I was taught about Pelagius initially, I completely misunderstood him.
Speaker: I mean, i I thought Pelagius was a denier of... human of original sin and of of the depravity or the the this the broken nature of art.
Speaker: of our of our humanity after the fall. and And he was, in a sense. But... Um, but What I didn't pick up on or what wasn't given to me at that point was that Pelagius really thought.
Speaker: that that if you worked hard enough, if you strove, Hard enough.
Speaker: that that That God was calling you to that kind of a... I'll be... of a of of a life. And that you were you were supposed to work really, really hard.
Speaker: To be. a Christian. That it was, it was. It was this all -consuming Um, Life.
Speaker: and that And that if you didn't... If you didn't... If you didn't suffer all. okay um If you didn't suffer the loss of all things, and if you didn't count that all as rubbish.
Speaker: ah Your Christianity wasn't real. It wasn't authentic. It wasn't ah it wasn't good enough. And and what what Pelagius believed was that you could do that. Okay.
Speaker: Um, He ran into the buzzsaw of Augustine of Hippo. Um... Uh, who very... Very. um adroitly noticed inside Pelagius's heresy.
Speaker: um a misplaced trust.
Speaker: a misplaced trust on on our ability to to to solve the problem. And. uh and And what Augustine really ends up arguing for, and I love this, he argues for mediocre Christians.
Speaker: He argues for the for the mediocrity of Christians. uh, You know, and I think that's really important because Paul. Paul has had a singular experience.
Speaker: He was on that road to Damascus, and and Christ Jesus in... bathed in a heavenly light that blinded Paul for three days, remember.
Speaker: that Jesus showed up, the resurrected Christ showed up and talked to him. Now... I'm just guessing Matt. But I'm thinking maybe that hasn't happened to you either.
Speaker: No. No, I... I can't say that it has. Yeah. And I... I think we... I think we... ah we We sometimes lose sight of the fact that... that that For our sake.
Speaker: and And for the sake of his church. that Jesus was you know, if you will. Fast -forwarding or a little bit or or maybe just just taking The, uh...
Speaker: the the resurrection of the dead forward. to to to confront this yeah this really this white -hot persecutor of the church. And. turning him.
Speaker: to be a white hot proponent. of that same Christianity he was persecuting a moment before. that that ah I don't know that if everybody had the zeal of...
Speaker: of the Apostle Paul that Would that be a good thing? Mm hmm. All right. ah i havet but Let's be honest. All right. that that that you know I mean Pope Paul pull at several points you know goes on to say, yeah, I'm kind of glad I'm i'm not a baptizer. I don't really do this. thing I'm always going, going, going, going, going.
Speaker: The church also needs people who are staying, staying, staying. Yeah. and And it needs the people who... who are inspired by Paul and and people like him, but who are...
Speaker: Oftentimes. engaged in those long -term rooted relationships that come from living in a community, raising your family. of ah a servant on the school board or, ah you know, being on the neighborhood watch and and you go to work and you you earn.
Speaker: You're you're you're living and you buy your your stuff at the grocery store and you are engaged in this just regular ordinary mediocre.
Speaker: life. And. um That doesn't mean it isn't imbued with the Spirit of God and that it isn't this occasion for God's light to shine, but it isn't necessarily.
Speaker: has to be saying, you know, I'm going to give up. I'm going to count Everything I have is rubbish. For the sake of Christ. I mean...
Speaker: i I kind of think it's pretty important that... They're Christians. plan for their retirement. you know Or that they, you know, that... I don't know that God is saying you've got you gotta to... you know, burn your house down because it's just rubbish.
Speaker: you know or Or that these relationships of of... parents and children and, and, and spouse and those things that that's all rubbish.
Speaker: Bye. I don't think that's quite what... Paul is enjoining on his people. No, and I don't so think so either and when he's talking about you know, identifying himself at the beginning part of chapter three. You know, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence, look at me. My brain goes to the the argument, you know, who's the the goat for Basketball.
Speaker: Is it Michael Jordan or LeBron James? Right. And I'm... For me, it's Akim Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Come on, 94, 95, Houston Rockets, back to back. I mean, that's all silly, but but when you you really dig down into those conversations, and and i I don't follow basketball all that closely, but you realize pretty early on.
Speaker: As great as Jordan was or is and James is or was however you want to look at it They were on a team. No. there's There's no way Michael Jordan could win as many games as he did one on five. And it's not even one on five. It's one on five plus the other guys that are on the bench.
Speaker: Right. Somebody's got to inbound the ball to him. yeah and And so paul Paul's going to go on in just a second and talk about how you know we're citizens of heaven.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, this is one this goes back to Paul in Romans chapter 12. That measure, that faith that God has given to you. Not all of us have to be Paul.
Speaker: Right. Right. and and And maybe because Paul was who Paul was and definitely because God chose to use Paul in the way that he did. I'm able, man. Pay taxes to Caesar. no you know but but also do it as a brother in Christ. i'm able I'm able to do maybe some of the most mundane things in the world, or mediocre.
Speaker: and And I don't need to worry about that. That is a blessing that I had the opportunity to do that. right And stop worrying about the goat.
Speaker: Right, right. Well, and are trying to be the goat. Right. yeah Right. I mean, that that that. That. that That I do believe God calls. individuals, sometimes into remarkable lives.
Speaker: and And I look at them and I am. absolutely astounded and I am inspired by them. Okay, and Paul is Absolutely. Maybe the... The... the the first exemplar of one of those kinds of lies.
Speaker: but that but that uh, I think what we have a penchant for doing is sometimes holding up those dramatic lives in a sense and saying you're supposed to be like them.
Speaker: Instead of... Ooh. distilling out of them and saying, oh, Look at what he's saying here. about about your life. and And yes, my money. my family, my home, whatever we want to talk about, can become idolatrous and can become something that that that gets between me and God.
Speaker: Or... I can receive them as things that are gifts. from God to be used and lived in a life. Toward God. And at that point, I am not thinking about all of those things as rubbish.
Speaker: and And. And I think Paul went through this this absolutely transformative. process. which Which... you know was transformative for how he viewed everything.
Speaker: and And I think his language here is... is is
Speaker: is really stark. because The transformation he underwent was so important. Both for him, but I think also for us Um,
Speaker: But at at the same time, I think that... That. that Paul, I mean, I think certainly within this text. Paul is also admitting. Oh.
Speaker: But I'm also still a work in progress. you know and and And I think, in ah in in effect... what we what we see here in Paul. is that that He kind of got a glimpse.
Speaker: of the day of resurrection.
Speaker: on that road to Damascus. It's kind of like, it isn't so much that... Jesus. came to him as Jesus sort of picked him up and brought him to the resurrection day.
Speaker: and gave him a look around. All right. and And putting back into that first century world then. and said, Live.
Speaker: as if that future is true. And Paul did that. Okay, he strove to get to that resurrection. Because he saw it.
Speaker: on that road. I think. in in a very real sense. What? What Paul is doing with his text is he's giving us a picture. of the completion of that good work that God has begun in us. And you will bring to completion on the day. of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the day when when Christ raises us all and we behold him face to face.
Speaker: John says we will see him as he is because we will be like him. as he is. and that And that on that day, yeah, I really think we will turn around and look at. everything of this life.
Speaker: And say. I'm That's done. You know, that that's rubbish. And with a full -throated roar and... every fiber of our being, we are going to run.
Speaker: toward that light. That is the heavenly Jerusalem. Okay? Um, and And I think that's the Jesus. I think that's what Paul is describing for us here.
Speaker: But that, but that when when he... when he gives us this little, yeah. I also am a work in progress, guys. It's not that I've attained it yet. I'm not there.
Speaker: And i I praise God that he will bring me there. um I. I'm going to forget what lies behind. I'm going to forget the my failures and all of those things.
Speaker: I'm going to strain toward that light. that Christ let me see and blinded me with. It's too much for me now. It blinded me on that road.
Speaker: And it was only by the grace of God through Ananias that I got my sight back. But... I'm going to strain toward that light. Um,
Speaker: And. And my life is going to do that. And and I think it's it's just. Um, I think it is. It is. really critically important to to see that that Paul's giving us a picture of that resurrection day.
Speaker: Not necessarily a picture of... this day. that this day is going to be all mingled up with that stuff. And we are all engaged in that life. And that that life right now.
Speaker: is gift from God. and is intended to be. is intended to be lived. Both. From him and to him. And it was a gift from him and a gift back to him.
Speaker: And so... and so Um. Paul even just says it here. He says, let those of us who are mature. These this these are the verses right after. right our text. Let those of us who are mature think this way. And if anything, you think otherwise. God will reveal that to you. Paul doesn't even demand that everybody be on board with him. on this.
Speaker: He says, you know, I think God will bring you there. But if you're not there yet. Okay.
Speaker: Only let us hold true to what we have attained. you know and what we have attained. is you know that that That, you know, as a called and ordained servant of Christ, I forgive you all your sins. That that that Christ has died for you.
Speaker: and your sins are forgiven, and he has promised you eternal life. Hold on to that Hold on to those things that you've got. You haven't got to that last day when the... when the The heavenly light shines and the dead are raised and Jesus is there in his glory and there's 10 ,000 angels on either side. And, and ah you know, you're not there yet.
Speaker: Hold on to what you got. Don't lose that graciousness of God. So that's where he says, beware of those who mutilate the flesh. Beware of those who who are trying to have you trust in something. else Brothers, join in imitating me, he continues.
Speaker: Keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. So he says, watch me. and see what I'm doing. Follow me. Many. walk as enemies of the of the cross of Christ.
Speaker: It is possible to live in this life. opposed to Christ. I know. I've done that since Paul. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly. They glory in their shame, but they have their minds set on earthly things.
Speaker: our citizenship. is in heaven. you know but you know I have a heavenly passport called a baptismal certificate. But I'm not. there yet.
Speaker: You know, I'm not there yet. From it, we await. right So that that that Jesus is coming. We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker: He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. I just think when you take this whole passage and you look at it.
Speaker: This is Paul talking about that resurrection day. Yeah. and And I think what what has sometimes happened with us is, and and I still hear people talk this way, you know, that... that that that To be a real Christian, you've got to.
Speaker: you know? um And... uh I do think it's really good for us to exhort and encourage people to lives of increasing and better holiness.
Speaker: right That we encourage and and and urge people to to live lives that that reflect. Christ's love. and his forgiveness, and and if you read the gospel reading for this day, it's all full of that, you know? I mean, it's's that's what Jesus is calling people toward. um but Uh,
Speaker: I think what What? the what we have to be aware of is that fundamental misappropriation of this text. to say that it is in that striving that our Christianity is actually found.
Speaker: But it's in fact. in the gift. and the promise. And. and the uh and and And. and And the love of God for.
Speaker: You know, me, a poor, miserable sinner. who confesses to you my sins and iniquities. That that's where... That's where my Christianity is. is in in that gracious relationship I have with God.
Speaker: There were. recently, if I remember this correctly. the first Robotic Olympics. in China.
Speaker: Yes, yes, I heard this, yes. Yes. And I envision us sometimes as as one of the robots that's just running, running, running, running, running. And you can see, like... Eyes towards the goal. yeah
Speaker: This is great. But before the race is over, can't slow down and runs crashing right into a wall. And it's not just crash and falls down. He crashes in law and he's still trying to run. And I think for for many of us, like it's.
Speaker: Paul's saying, be be like that robot, but remember, you are still that robot. The race isn't over yet. Great. and And yeah, there are going to be times where. You're going to be running and you've got your eyes on that goal and you're going to trip, you're going to stumble, you're going to go crashing into something.
Speaker: So, yeah, stay focused on the goal, though. Because if you're now you're looking back and you're dreading or you're you're breaking down all the tiny little things, where which I'm sure the the robotic team is doing.
Speaker: How do we get that thing to stop? But so that we we we don't need to be like that. to we don't mean waste time, because if anything, if you you track down Pelagius' argument or his thought, as soon as we start doing that,
Speaker: We're losing not just sight of Christ. We're losing sight of our neighbor. Mm -hmm. Because now we're looking back at well, what do I need to be doing to be better for myself and in the eyes of God?
Speaker: Right. A whole sense of vocation where i'm i'm I'm called by God to be a neighbor. and a friend, and a father, husband, wife, child, whatever it is God has called me to be, that that's that that is... ah that that is. that that is.
Speaker: where my my vocation lies right now, where my calling is right now. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm definitely not a runner, I can tell you that. No, that whole running metaphor, yeah. we we yeah Last week, yeah or two weeks ago, I guess it was, he had that military metaphor. yeah i'm I'm not that either. so yeah actually I'm more... I'm more, you know... ah I'm more that.
Speaker: Uh, worker in the vineyard kind of a metaphor. i had but Yeah. or Or, you know, i'm I'm the guy that's working really hard prepping the meal by sitting next to the barbecue smoker. Right, right. Yep. Working hard.
Speaker: yeah my my ah My phone tells me how hot the Traeger is, so I don't have to work at it anymore. But I still you know, I can't trust technology, you know i still got There's a patient two girls sitting down to eat and one girl goes To the other one. Your family doesn't pray before you eat? the Second girl goes, no, my dad knows how to barbecue.
Speaker: I was like, oh, hey, yeah I like that one. First. Dad's still praying before we eat.
Speaker: There's lots to be thankful for. That's right. All right, Matthew. This was fun. Yes. Good text. We'll see you next week in Philips. I know, I can't wait.
Speaker: So. Have a blessed week, sir. Preach him a good one this Sunday. Yep. You too. You too. Preach them good. Bye -bye. Bye.
Speaker: Okay.
