©1998 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
|
1/10/99
|
The Power Of Our Point Of Focus
|
Phili. 3:17-19
|
1/10/99 The Power Of Our Point Of Focus
We are returning to our study
of the New Testament Book of Philippians this
morning.
We've been away from it for a few weeks,
so let me set the stage for us again,
just so we know who's talking to us
and why he wrote.
The book was written by the Apostle Paul,
the man selected by God
to move the message of Christ
out of its exclusively Jewish roots
and into the non-Jewish world.
Paul wrote the letter from prison.
He was in Rome,
waiting for his trial before Caesar
on charges of treason against the Roman
Empire
because of the disruption
his preaching had caused among the Jewish
people.
He had been in prison for a number of months
at the time of the writing of this letter.
Paul had a close personal tie with the church at
Philippi,
but following his arrest in Jerusalem
communication between Paul
and the church had broken off.
For about two years
the Christians had no idea where Paul was
or how things were going with him.
Then they heard he was in prison in Rome
and immediately put together a care package for
him
and sent their pastor, Epaphroditus,
to Rome with their gifts
in order to encourage Paul.
On the trip Epaphroditus became extremely sick,
nearly dying as a result of his illness.
Paul wrote this letter in response
to their gift and kindness to him.
As we have studied this little book, however,
it has become evident that there was
something far more significant going on in
this letter as well.
As Paul writes,
he knows that this may well be
the last communication he will ever have
with these Christians.
He is on trial for his life.
If he is found guilty of the charge of treason
his execution will follow immediately.
He has already been in prison for months.
He is in one of the deepest winters of his life,
a winter that may never see a Spring
that follows it.
Through this amazing little book
Paul reveals to his readers
the principles that equip us to survive
both the prisons
and the winters of our lives.
This is a book designed for real life,
a book written for pain,
and for fear,
and for those times of apparent
hopelessness.
As we've worked our way through the book
we've already seen a number of the principles
offered to us by Paul
for winter prison survival.
Most recently we heard him say these words:
Phil. 3:12 ¶ Not that I have already
obtained it or have already become perfect,
but I press on so that I may lay hold of
that for which also I was laid hold of by
Christ Jesus.
Phil. 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself
as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing
I do: forgetting what lies behind and
reaching forward to what lies ahead,
Phil. 3:14 I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus.
That is Paul modeling for us
the logical, reasonable approach
to living the Christian life.
This is Paul waking up each morning
to the clatter of the manacles
around his wrists.
This is a man whose only apparent options
are either another day in prison
or a trial that may result in his execution.
This is a man who,
from all human perspective,
appears to have no good options whatsoever.
And yet, this is the point at which
we hear him offering
the most powerful,
forward-looking call to life
recorded for us anywhere in his writings.
"...I press on toward the goal for prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
He sounds like a college graduate
with his diploma in one hand,
his job-offer of a lifetime in the other,
his new car at the curb,
and his bride on his arm,
heading into a glorious future.
And we see here Paul revealing to us
one of those crucial principles
for survival -
God and God alone determines the future
for the child of God.
This is Paul saying to us,
"Don't look at the chains around my wrists and
legs,
don't look at the bars on these windows,
LOOK AT MY GOD!
He determines my future."
This is nothing new, of course.
Do you remember your Old Testament?
Do you remember Moses
with several million terrified Israelites following
him,
pursued by the entire military force
of Egypt,
crammed up against the Red Sea?
Nice choices -
do you want to be slaughtered
or drowned?
Some of you have been there this past year, haven't
you?
Some of you have known what it felt like
to be where, from man's perspective,
there were no answers,
no hope,
no way out.
And I have seen some of you do
the same thing Moses did
when he took his eyes off the sea in front of
him,
and stopped his ears
to the clatter of the Egyptian chariots in
the distance,
the same thing Paul did
when he took his eyes off the bars on his
window,
and stopped his ears
to the clatter of his own chains,
and they turned their eyes onto their God.
And in the process
you have discovered
He can and He will make a way for you too.
You know, don't you,
that every life will know some Red Seas
and some prison walls.
My hope is that you also know
that those are the times
when we have the best opportunity
we will ever have
to discover the two most important
bits of knowledge we can ever possess:
1. Is my God really there?
2. Does He really care about ME?
By the way,
those happen to be the two questions
we will avoid asking at all costs -
I mean REALLY asking.
We will exhaust every other resource available
before asking those two questions
because in our spirits
we know that the answers to those two
questions
have the power to devastate our
lives.
If God is REALLY there,
that knowledge brings with it
profound implications for my life.
It involves accountability,
and submission,
and interaction with Him
that changes all the boundaries
and all the rules of life.
And if He really CARES about me,
it means I personally hold a value to Him
which in turn means my life
and my actions
and my choices have a significance
far beyond anything
I could ever have imagined on my own.
And as long as I'm getting just a little off track here,
let me just mention that
Satan's greatest tool
for preventing us from asking those two
questions
is religion.
Religion is designed by Satan
for the purpose of soothing our need
for God-awareness
without allowing it to become personal.
If Satan can provide us with
some form of significant
or meaningful religious experience
without any personal,
individual,
practical interaction taking place in our lives,
he has scored a mighty victory for evil.
If we can walk into a great cathedral
and "feel" close to God
without true, personal interaction taking place
between us and our Creator,
he has diffused our God-hunger.
If we can get caught up
in the "feel" of praise and worship
and celebration of a large congregation
without it becoming intensely personal
between us and our God,
it allows our spirit to hide from God.
We were talking last week about how
God perfectly crafted His Word
so as to make it a personal communication
between us and Him.
He offers it to us in the form of personal letters,
and then, in the context of those letters
He offers us personal promises -
His commitments to us,
describing who He is,
and how He relates to us.
The truth is, though,
that we usually do not reach out to Him
and we do not grip those promises
until our hands are shackled,
our back is against the Red Sea,
and our ears hear the pounding
hooves of the Egyptian Army.
Then we're faced with the most crucial choice of
our life-
Do we shake our fist in the face of our God
and dare to ask Him
why He allowed this to happen to us?
Or do we drop to our knees
and, perhaps for the first time in our lives,
begin asking the right questions:
GOD! Are you really there?
And GOD, do you care about me?
Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who
comes to God must believe that He is and
that He is a rewarder of those who seek
Him.
Well, our study of Philippians
has brought us to Phili. 3:17-21,
a passage in which Paul offers us
yet another survival tool for the Prisons
of our lives.
He writes,
Phil. 3:17-19 Brethren, join in following
my example, and observe those who walk
according to the pattern you have in us. For
many walk, of whom I often told you, and
now tell you even weeping, that they are
enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end
is destruction, whose god is their appetite,
and whose glory is in their shame, who set
their minds on earthly things.
In the few minutes we have remaining
I want to attempt to offer this passage to you in
three statements.
1. First of all, Paul reminds us that God has
carefully provided each of us
with some good examples in our lives,
people who are fighting the same battles
we're fighting and finding God faithful,
or people who know
what we're going through
and really, truly care about us.
I remember a number of years ago
talking with a young man in college
who was trying so hard
to throw out his Christian heritage.
He said he was talking with a group of his friends,
all of whom were at the same place he was at.
They saw the games
and the facade
and the hypocrisy in the churches around
them.
But he said every one of them
also had someone in their lives
they couldn't just throw out -
someone who really cared,
someone whose life they could not
explain apart from the reality of God,
someone who loved God
and loved them, too.
That's the way our God works.
For the past 2000 years
God has been clothing His truth
in human flesh,
OUR human flesh, for all too see.
And my first statement is this:
God has provided every one of us with at
least one good example.
And then he offers us the flip side.
2. We are also surrounded by an endless
stream of those who have chosen to do it
wrong.
I believe Paul is talking here
about people within the church world,
people who identify themselves
as "Christians",
people who proclaim our doctrine,
and preach salvation,
and make their home
under the banner of the
cross.
And yet Paul describes them as "enemies of the
cross of Christ".
And I think he does so,
not because they are attacking the truth
with their words,
but because they are denying the truth
with their lives.
And in so doing
they make it so much harder
for those around them to choose
righteousness.
Do you remember the first time
you discovered that some Christian you
admired
had a hidden life of immorality?
If it hasn't happened to you yet,
it will.
Do you remember how it affected you?
Do you remember those thoughts?
"If HE can't make it work,
how can I ever hope to?
If SHE can't live a life of moral purity,
what hope is there for me?"
Do you remember the discouragement you felt?
Do you remember the hopelessness you
wrestled with?
Do you remember how long it took you to
recover and recommit yourself
to your own upward call in Christ Jesus?
Paul calls such people, "enemies of the cross of
Christ".
And he leaves no room for misunderstanding.
He is talking about those
who have allowed the driving desires of the
flesh to have free reign in their lives.
Their glory is in their shame.
In other words,
rather than being ashamed of their
immorality,
they glory in it,
they cultivate it,
they refine it,
they allow it to dominate their lives.
In our society today,
these are the ones who love to make
sharp distinctions between
"Public" and "Private" lives.
You know, of course,
that there is no Biblical "right to privacy" granted
to the Christian.
In fact,
God wants our lives
to be as public
and open
and exposed as possible.
He talks about setting us on a lamp stand
for all to see.
So,
1. God has provided each of us with some
examples of those who are doing it right - not
perfect,
not sinless,
but who really are fighting well
the fight God has given them.
2. And every one of us
also find ourselves
surrounded by bad examples.
3. And then my third statement-
focus on the good ones.
That's a choice, my friends.
And it is a choice we have to make
if we are ever going to survive.
If I chose to
I could recall and focus on a dozen or more
significant teachers in my life
who's lives crumbled into pathetic little piles
of immorality.
But I find it far more profitable to recall
a few good men
who will forever be the anchors of my life.
Men like Hugh Salisbury,
my Bible teacher in college
who's 12 year old son
was killed by a drunk driver
while he was walking home from
school.
He hurt
as only a parent can hurt
when their child is taken away,
but he kept right on trusting his God
and teaching His truth
and caring about me, his student.
Two years after I got out of school
I attended a church where he was speaking.
While they were singing the hymn
just before he was to speak
he saw me in the congregation,
and, while everyone was singing,
he came down from the platform
and shook hands with me,
and asked me how it was going.
He cared about me,
about my life,
about my future.
He lived what he believed,
and in so doing he provided me
with an anchor,
a solid place for the rest of my life.
And it has fascinated me to see
the way in which
those anchor relationships
become a permanent part of our lives.
Following that one final brief encounter at that
church
I had no contact with Prof. Salisbury again for
years.
But during the first or second year
after Peninsula Bible Fellowship started
one Sunday morning
a group of counselors from Solid Rock
Bible Camp came to our service.
In talking with one of those counselors
I found out that he was attending
Multnomah School of the Bible,
and that Prof. Salisbury was now on staff there.
I asked that student to deliver a message for me.
I said, "Tell him I said hello, and tell him at least one
of his former students turned out OK."
You see, that's the way those relationships affect us.
There's a part of us
that always wants them to know
their input into our life
made a difference,
it changed us,
it gave us hope.
It wasn't his ideas that affected me so deeply.
It was the example of his life.
It was the fact that he lived in the same world we all
lived in,
facing the same pain,
the same questions,
the same confusion as everyone else.
And yet through it all his God was still good,
and his God was still adequate
for anything that came into his life.
God, in His kindness,
has provided me with several such men in my
past,
men who were the real thing.
And in these few verses here in Philippians
I see Paul calling us
to focus on those people in our lives.
There will always be the failures,
the flesh-soaked loosers around us.
Let them go.
Leave them to God.
For, our survival in the prisons of our lives,
in the Januarys of our years,
requires us to focus on the ones
who not only preached the truth,
but who lived it as well.