Philippians 3:15--4:1 – “Where do you call home?”
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni
November 5th, 2006
Text (TNIV)
15All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
4:1Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
Introduction
(As told by Wendy Zoba) When our middle son, Ben, was much younger, he had heard more than one sermon about the importance of surrendering our lives to Christ. And Ben seemed well-attuned to the heart of God; he exhibited the selfless and kind tendencies that would take some -- like his mother -- a lifetime of sanctification to acquire. So it disturbed my husband and me when Ben stubbornly resisted our invitations for him to give his life to Christ. He would offer no explanations; he would simply tell us in his preschool English that he wasn’t ready.
He resisted for several months. Then, one morning as we sat around the kitchen table eating our Cheerio’s, little Ben announced that he was ready to give his life to Christ. He then got up from the table and went upstairs.
My husband and I looked at each other and followed him. I guess we expected to find Ben on his knees in prayer. We didn’t. Instead, we found him folding his Star Wars pyjamas into his Sesame Street suitcase.
We said, "Ben, what are you doing?" He answered, "Packing."
"Why?" we asked. "To go to heaven," he said.
We then understood why our child hesitated to give his life to Christ. He thought that, in so doing, he would have to leave us and take up residence, literally, with Christ in heaven.
***
In our passage today we see Paul talking about our citizenship in Heaven as Christians.
It’s not something we give a lot of thought to, in our busy lives.
We might become Christians because we want to spend eternity with Jesus, but too often we leave our heavenly passports tucked away,
and spend more time working on our temporary dwelling places.
Let’s see what Paul has to say in this passage.
Review
‘ALL OF US WHO ARE MATURE SHOULD TAKE SUCH A VIEW OF THINGS” begs the question “What things”?
Paul has just finished burning the ears of those who would corrupt the gospel. His words are combative, intolerant and even abrasive.
There is no room in his mind for accepting a version of the “good news, non fiction message” that takes away from the completeness of what
Jesus has done for us.
He has also just encouraged the Philippians to put the past behind them and “to press on toward the goal, to win the prize for which God has called (them) heavenward in Christ Jesus”.
Paul is not attacking tradition here; he is saying that he is putting his old lifestyle behind him and striving to live out his new life in Christ.
His old lifestyle was trying to earn his way to God,
his new lifestyle is enjoying his salvation in Christ
and striving to be more and more like him.
So when Paul says, “ALL OF US WHO ARE MATURE SHOULD TAKE SUCH A VIEW ON THINGS”, he is telling us to be wary of those who would pollute our message and also to strive to live out that message.
Now this is difficult, and even more so when you realize he is talking to a group, not just one person. As people we can all hear the same words and end up with more interpretations than people in a room.
One joke I’ve heard told goes like this:
“Have you heard of the special committee bus?”
“Well, it’s got 1 engine, three steering wheels and ten sets of brakes”
Such is working together. But it’s part of who we are, and something we need to work on.
Paul knew there was some friction in the ranks; he’s addressed it already and in the next chapter he is going to single out the combatants and share some words with them.
What does Paul say to his group of different worldviews, opinions and lifestyles? Let God sort it out. Look at the words:
IF ON SOME POINT YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY, THAT TOO GOD WILL MAKE CLEAR TO YOU”
When I put the two thoughts of verse 15 together I get something like this:
Those of us who know better should be striving to serve the Lord together, and letting the smaller issues work themselves out as they come along.
Easy words, eh?
You would think this would be automatic, but the fact that Paul is compelled to say them means that the Philippians needed to hear them. They had some real life issues to deal with. The process was obviously not easy, but it was necessary.
The thought is beautifully wrapped up in verse 16:
Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Be what you can be.
Do what you know you should do.
You do not serve the gospel by acting in a way which contravenes it.
You are not too old to follow the lessons you learned in Sunday school. You are not smart enough to change the message which saved your life.
What do we say to a youngster who is breaking a rule he knows full well he should be following? “Smarten up - you know better!”
Well, God, through the apostle Paul, is saying the same thing to us.
Paul has learned to focus on the important things,
and he uses his own life as an example for the people in Philippi to follow:
vs 17- Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.
Yes, we should be living up to what we know is right, but no, we do not have to do it alone. We must not do it alone, for that contradicts the whole concept of how God has seen fit to establish himself in this world.
In all his wisdom and power and strength he has seen fit to allow his word to spread not though perfect vessels, but imperfect ones, gathered together in groups which we call churches.
The faith we have may be a personal one, but it is also meant to be lived in the company of others, and we are not complete unless we are living our faith amongst God’s other children.
Moving out of this verse, Paul makes reference to those who oppose the church in Philippi.
Remarkably, his tone changes from anger to remorse, and his next two verses express a sense of loss.
Hurting for those who aren’t
18For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
Paul has been unafraid to address his enemies in this letter.
His words have been sharp and painful.
Now that he has gotten this out of system,
he takes a minute to express the tragedy of their plight.
That he says this with tears is evidence of his personal sense of sorrow for their plight. They have set themselves apart from what Jesus Christ has done, and in doing so have become “enemies of the cross of Christ”.
How Paul describes these opponents can be summarized by: Who, what and where.
Where are they headed? - destruction. - The opposite of salvation.
Who do they live for? - themselves.
They feed their own appetite for having things their way as opposed to living for Christ as part of his body.
What have they achieved ?- nothing but their own defamation.
They take pride in the things that are actually bringing shame on them and their actions
Where is their focus? : On the things of this world.
Achievement over freedom. Good deeds over gospel grace.
What they have accomplished over what Jesus has accomplished.
Now, when we see these words,
some of us may take them very personally,
and worry about our own situation with God.
With that in mind, it is important to note two things.
The first is that these are all symptoms of a very clear problem.
Just because our lives may mirror some of negative these things from time to time does not mean we are all in the same basket as the people Paul is talking about.
We all, at times, get focused on ourselves over others, but that does not mean that we are automatically in the same camp as these people.
We are not immune from becoming like them, but we do not fall away from faith every time we are distracted by our own desires.
The second thing is that these people are not being written off.
They are being addressed in their current condition, but the same gospel of grace that they are opposed to can save them if they turn to it in faith.
Their path is toward destruction, but they are still able to turn around.
Paul, for all his anger toward these people, still hurts for them and does not want them to perish.
Looking Forward to Heaven
He then contrasts their fate with the fate of those faithful to Christ.
READ VERSES 20-21 - But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Those opposed to the gospel are set on earthly things,
but those for it are citizens of heaven.
One might say that while some live with one foot in the grave,
Christians live with one foot in heaven.
These verses introduce the wonderful concept of “now and not yet”.
We are now Christians, we are now saved, and we are now part of God’s heavenly kingdom. Being a citizen means being a part of it, and this verse is very clearly in the “now”.
And yet, we are not yet fully the Christians we can be,
we are not yet saved from all we are going to be saved from,
and not yet living in the place we derive our citizenship from!
We have met the Saviour, and yet we await his arrival from Heaven.
He has the power to bring all under his control, but has not yet done so.
We have become new people by taking his message seriously,
and yet await the transformation that is promised to all God’s children.
“Why” is the most common question to all this, and yet it is also the question Paul does not answer. He states it like you read it, and we are left to cope with the details.
And cope we will. For that is Paul’s goal in all this, as is expressed in the last verse of this particular train of thought.
READ VERSE 4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
The whole point of saying all this has been to support them in a time of need. The Philippians were opposed without by a hostile majority and endangered within by a wayward minority. Some within the church were engaged in a petty squabble that was threatening the unity of the church.
To this group of people, who Paul dearly loves, he has shared the preceding words, which can be wrapped up in three thoughts:
Live up to who you are in Christ
Hurt for those who are not.
Keep the end in mind.
In doing this, you will stand firm in the Lord.
This is also what he is saying to us, now, in this day and age.
Live up to who we are and what we know.
The adage that “to whom much is given much will be expected” is dead on.
We are called to work together. Let’s do it.
We are called to show our love for the Lord in our daily lives, Let’s do it!
We have been called to stop complaining and arguing. Let’s do it.
We have been called to rejoice in the Lord. Let’s do it.
Now that we know, we go and get it done!
Hurt for those who are not.
They need the Lord and they are in desperate straits without them.
It is very “politically incorrect” to speak about a “negative eternal destiny” (translate that into Hell) but Paul makes it clear that this is the fate of those opposed to the gospel.
We must not relegate people to Hell on our own observation of their lifestyle: that’s God’s department and we only hurt ourselves and others by trying to seat in that judgement seat.
But we cannot ignore the very real fact that there is a very real fate for those who stand opposed to God’s son and his work on the cross. That reduced Paul to tears, and it should do the same to us.
Live with the end in mind.
When we take our eyes off the goal we make our most foolish mistakes. Imagine how much conflict would be avoided if we were ready to take a few lumps in pursuit of a common goal.
I remember a flag football game I played a while ago. The teachers and staff at Charles Hays SS were playing against a student team.
When you play any type of football there are bumps, trips and mistakes made. As a team the staff occasionally bumped into each other, tripped up each other, and flat out made mistakes. But we were playing together, and these minor incidents were swallowed for the sake of scoring, which we did readily.
The students, for the most part, played okay. I can not honestly cast them in the opposite light of our cohesive play. However, I can say that toward the end they really turned it on. They saw the end zone and simply refused to give up. For five minutes these kids shined, and ran around us like we were not even there. They were a unit, a team, and if they had had five more minutes they would have kicked our fannies.
We, as a church, are a team. Teams sacrifice individual rights for the sake of a common goal. The members do not lose themselves. They do not do the same thing. They do not think the same way. But they strive for the same thing. They live with the end in mind.
How do we shine has God’s church in Port Alberni? Together, that’s how.
Together as one, with a common message and a common citizenship!
Together as occupants of this world and citizens of Heaven.
