Introduction
In the movie City Slickers Billy Crystal and a group of his executive city friends decide it was time to take an adventure vacation. An adventure vacation is not just laying on the beach it’s doing some activity with a guide that takes you out to the edge. The character played by Billy crystal has problems at work and problems in his marriage - he has having a mid-life crisis. The adventure, if saw the movie, was a cattle drive out in the wild west. The guide for this adventurous cattle drive is Curly played by Jack palance. Near the end of the movie, having gone the edge and to near death Curly said the Billy: It’s the one thing. Billy said what’s the one thing? Curly said that’s for your to discover for yourself.
In this morning’s scripture in Philippians Paul had a simular experence at the edge. And at the edge the found out the one thing that was everything. He shares with us four parts or four dimensions of this experience the first is
The one thing that is everything is to know Christ - the one thing that is everything is personal.
I. Personal
10 I want to know Christ
4 If anyone else thinks he has 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 legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
Paul said in vs 4-6 let me give you my resume: I am pureblooded Jew - a pedigree - a Jew if there ever was one. I am from the tribe a Benjamin - that’s the family from which came the first king of Israel - Saul! I followed all Jewish protocol i.e. all ceremonial law including the rite circumcision on the 8th day. Not only am I a pureblooded Jew, not only was I from the tribe of Benjamin what’s more I belonged to the group that demanded the very strictest obedience to Jewish law and customs - the Pharisees. How far did I take this obedience? I myself kept ever letter of the law and demanded the same of others which is why I persecuted the church, he says- with zeal .
Paul said that he had the pedigree, he followed all Jewish protocol, he had the position, he had the power and he performed and he performed perfectly and persecuted those who didn’t or wouldn’t - that included the church.
There are seven bullets on his resume in vv4,5,6 but they all boil down to two things his pedigree and his performance - the groups he belonged to the deeds he performed. Yet he says it was all rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus - this is personal.
Speaking of rubbish, in the 1920’s a meeting was held in Chicago of the of world’s nine richest financiers. Among those present was
¨ the president of the largest steel company
¨ the president of the largest utility company
¨ the president of the largest gas company
¨ the greatest wheat speculator
¨ the president of the new York stock exchange
¨ a member of the president’s cabinet
¨ the greatest bear on wall street
¨ head of the world’s greatest monopoly
¨ president of the bank of international settlements
These men had it all - at least they had all the money! However, within the next 25 years. Let me tell you what happened to these men:
¨ the president of the largest steel company went bankrupt and was living on borrowed money a the time of his death
¨ the president of the largest utility company died a fugitive from justice and died penniless in a foreign land
¨ the president of the largest gas company went insane
¨ the greatest wheat speculator died broke
¨ the president of the new York stock exchange spent most of next 25 years in sing sing prison
¨ The member of the president’s cabinet was pardoned from prison so he could die at home
¨ the greatest bear on wall street committed suicide
¨ head of the world’s greatest monopoly committed suicide
¨ president of the bank of international settlements committed suicide
These men, like Paul found out about rubbish. They found out like Paul that many things can fill up your life yet they are not fulfilling. The one thing that is fulfilling, Paul says is the surpassing greatness is Knowing. Whatever this knowing is it must be good; it must be real good - Paul experienced it and he gave up everything for it.
Let me tell you what I think it is: To know Christ is an awareness, it’s a consciousness in your heart and mind of a presence. this presence is both within you and beyond you. This presence is
personal and you know it and it knows you. This presence transforms you in way you could never do on your own. This presence both convicts of your sin and comforts and guides you into realizing your God given potential. This presence produces the fruit of love and joy and This presence is Christ and once you’ve had a taste of this knowing you’ll give up everything for it.
The one thing that is everything is to know Christ.
Secondly, the one thing that is everything is to know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings.
II. Passionate
and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings
One of the core experiences of knowing Christ is the experiencing a life of passion. When Keith asked me to preach this week, having heard his message last week about a passion driven church, I knew this was the message I wanted to share today.
The word translated sufferings in v10 is the Greek word pathe which has two meanings. The first is a bad feeling, suffering or pain. Pathe in that sense is where we get the word in English pathology meaning the study of bad feelings i.e. disease. The second meaning is that which results from the pain and suffering. The word we use to express that idea is the Latin translation or Latin equivalent of pathe which is passion. Pathe and passion are the same thing. In order to have the passion you must have the pain. We all want passion in Christian life. And as much as we dislike this the source of this passion is our pain and our problems.
Ken Keyes - a name you’ve probably never head before. But In the past 40 years he authored nearly 20 books, traveled worldwide as seminar leader and speaker and he owned a retreat and conference center in Oregon.
When Ken was in his early 20s he was stricken with polio and completely paralyzed from the neck down. He said his emotions ranged from self pity to rage. At one point he wanted to kill himself but being completely paralyzed he couldn’t he do that. He said the worst part was not being trapped in a body that didn’t work but being trapped in mind that was tormenting him about being in a body that didn’t work. Ken discovered some tecniques liberated him from his torment to a happy and productive life. Some of these techniques we would call prayer. He spent the next 50 years teaching others about these techniques; first to other paralytics and then to any and everyone.
Ken Keyes a couple years ago. He spent nearly 50 in a body that was dead from the neck down. He couldn’t walk or even get out of a chair, he couldn’t turn over in bed, he couldn’t feed or bath himself , he couldn’t hold or embrace a loved one, he couldn’t even go to the bathroom by himself, yet those who knew ken keyes said that they never new anyone who was more at peace, happier and who had more of a passion for living than he did. From time to time would see this old man with a big smile on his face on one of the day time talk shows and one of his favorite lines about himself was that he had turned his nightmare into a dream his paralysis into a passion. Pain, he used to say, is your teacher - you can become bitter or you can become better.
The one thing that is everyting is to know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings and his passion.
The one thing that is everyting is to know Christ and power of his resurrection.
III Powerful
and the power of his resurrection, becoming like him in his death,
11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
The resurrection was and is impossible. A resurrection from the dead is a physical and scientific impossibility - it can’t happen! It’s impossible to take dead tissue and reanimate it - that frakenstein stuff. A brain that is dead doesn’t come back to life and think again - that’s impossible.
When Jesus learned that Lazarus had died he went to Bethany where lazarus was buried. But by the time he got there lazarus had already been dead four days. His sister, Martha, told Jesus that by now there would be a stench, it would stink. Jesus went to the tomb anyway and called to lazarus saying: Lazaus come forth. And Lazarus got up and walked out of the tomb.
The power of his resurrection means a power to do that which we think is impossible - that which we are unable to do for ourselves. Lazarus was in the best condition to experience this power - he was dead, trapped in a tomb, and he stunk. The resurrection power is available to you when you realize that you’re dead or situation in which you find yourself is dead, stuck, you can’t get out and it stinks. And you know you need a power to do for you what you can’t do for yourself - you know you can’t raise yourself from the dead.
Paul said in 1 Cor. that if there is no resurrection then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain. If there is no resurrection then there is no reason for you to be here today and no reason for me to be preaching because the message and mystery of the resurrection is that God can do for you what you can’t do for yourself - what you think is impossible.
The one thing that is everyting is to know Christ and to experience his possession and purpose in your life
IV. Possessive and Purposeful
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, 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
Let use these final verses 12-14 to bring this message to closure. These final verses 12-14 summarize the whole in that Paul says Christ has ahold of me and everything I do
How do we get to the point in our life where Christ has hold of us where he is the one thing that is everything. The purpsoe of this scriptue passage in Philippins and this message for you and me is for Christ to the one thing that is everything.
Based on this passage I going to ask you to do three things as they apply to you.
First, Get to know Christ and don’t be fooled by false substitues and fill up your life but are not really fullfilling. Your associations and affliations, your good deeds and performances, your positions and your power are all great but they’re empty without a personal ongoing relationship with Christ that’s personal. How long has it been since you made Christ center of your thoughts and consciousness. Committ yourself to spend time each day not just for doing but rather for knowing. OT Be still and know that I am God.
Secondly, rekidle and revive your passion for living. Some of you have pain thats 20, 30, or even 40 years ago - you’ve neither let it go nor have you done anything with it. It’s time. Let it or get some use out of it. I’m 46 years old; I haven’t grown up yet. I don’t like this. But I know it’s true from my experiece and you know it’s true from your experiemce and we know it from the experience of others - the place to find passion is in your porblems and in your pain. (eg founder of AA and MADD). To know Christ is to live an enpassioned life.
Finally, Allow Christ’s resurrection power to work in your life. Is there something in your life that’s dead? Is there something about you that’s dead? Are you in any trapped, like in the tomb and seems to be no way out? Is there something in your life that appears to be impossible? If so, then it’s at this point you have the opportunity to experience a resurrection power.
I like to ask you this morning during our time of invitation to respond by allowing Christ to get ahold of you and your need for his passon and his power by making him the one thing that is everything.
