WEBVTT 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:02.640 And we've been going through a series on rejoicing in the broken. 00:00:04.180 --> 00:00:10.100 And it's written the book, the book of Philippians, written by the Apostle Paul during his stint in prison. 00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:17.190 Helping us as believers to discover what it means to rejoice in Christ. 00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:20.680 Paul gets to chapter three and verse 12. 00:00:20.680 --> 00:00:23.800 Today we've got just a few more lessons out of this series together before it ends. 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:31.820 But he answers something very important for us as a body of believers as he explains the joy and rejoicing that should take place in our lives through our relationship with Christ. 00:00:31.860 --> 00:00:32.450 And that is this Paul. 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:34.340 Paul answers this question. 00:00:35.720 --> 00:00:40.600 If we were to ask what is the secret to a successful Christian life? 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:46.560 Paul defines that for us this morning in Philippians chapter three and verse 12. 00:00:48.020 --> 00:00:50.260 In fact, when you start in verse 12. 00:00:50.420 --> 00:00:52.060 Verse ten is what's listed first here. 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:54.720 I'm going to skip down to verse 12, which is just a few lines below that. 00:00:54.720 --> 00:01:01.960 It says, not that I have already obtained all of this talking about his life in Christ or have already arrived 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:08.220 at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.240 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 00:01:14.300 --> 00:01:15.960 But one thing I do. 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:18.620 Forgetting what is behind. 00:01:19.720 --> 00:01:21.640 And straining toward what is ahead. 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:32.300 Paul describes all of the Christian life, everything that he's talked about in the first three chapters of Philippians down 00:01:32.300 --> 00:01:33.620 to this one concept. 00:01:33.660 --> 00:01:40.160 He says, if you want to know what a successful Christian life is all about and living for Jesus, it's this one thing. 00:01:41.360 --> 00:01:42.410 And what is that one thing? 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:50.220 Well, Paul is building off his idea in verses 12 and 13 with the previous section in chapter three that we read together last week. 00:01:51.800 --> 00:01:58.170 And in verse ten, Paul got to the pinnacle of thought of that section in the passage, and he says this I want to know Christ. 00:01:59.300 --> 00:02:06.540 Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:06.980 his death. 00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:11.620 Paul says the one thing that he pursues in life. 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:14.180 Is to know Jesus. 00:02:15.920 --> 00:02:18.100 Not just intellectually know Christ. 00:02:19.160 --> 00:02:21.800 But to relationally know Christ. 00:02:23.700 --> 00:02:26.800 He wants to be connected to his creator as creature. 00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:30.680 A few weeks ago or excuse me, not a few weeks ago. 00:02:30.700 --> 00:02:36.060 A few days ago, I was with a body of believers and someone posed this question in this group. 00:02:36.100 --> 00:02:41.060 They said, what questions do you ask yourself to determine if you're living a godly life? 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:48.180 And so everyone started spouting off these questions that have hit home with them and checking their relationship with the Lord. 00:02:48.600 --> 00:02:55.800 But you can imagine, as 25 people are sharing in a group, if 2 or 3 people or there's 2 or 3 questions shared per person before you 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.420 get to the end, there is a long list of questions. 00:02:58.540 --> 00:03:06.420 And as we got to the end of this discussion, one of the people finally just stood up and said, because if I had to live that list, I 00:03:06.420 --> 00:03:07.940 would drive myself crazy. 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:10.200 What about this? 00:03:11.940 --> 00:03:13.340 Why don't I just cling to Christ? 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:18.200 The truth is within our lives. 00:03:18.200 --> 00:03:20.400 The Bible tells us that we are sinful by nature. 00:03:21.880 --> 00:03:28.060 And there are a couple of roads that we can choose to walk in that decision and recognizing we don't always live godly lives. 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:31.140 We can choose to modify our behavior. 00:03:32.780 --> 00:03:35.820 We can choose to mask ourselves in religion. 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:38.540 Or. 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:40.560 You can choose Jesus. 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:47.480 And what the thought that Paul is carrying in this passage of Scripture for us as a body of believers is this. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.040 Guilt for a while can work when you feel like you've done something bad. 00:03:54.760 --> 00:03:57.140 But ultimately, what guilt does is modify your behavior. 00:03:59.340 --> 00:04:03.120 What Jesus really does is he comes into your heart and transforms your life through His Spirit. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:12.060 And you can expend an exuberant amount of effort and energy trying to live this religious identity, hoping 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:19.100 God pleases as it finds you pleased in him, and he pleased with you and or you can 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:20.589 embrace what Christ has done for you. 00:04:22.400 --> 00:04:23.180 Surrender yourself to him. 00:04:25.340 --> 00:04:31.000 Knowing that when God created you, he created you in his image and breathed into you His Spirit. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:36.660 Meaning as a creature, you are created for his purposes and having his spirit. 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:39.720 You were created with God's desire for you to connect to him. 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:44.900 And behavior modification may change you temporarily. 00:04:46.640 --> 00:04:50.240 But what the Bible tells us that Jesus does is to work on us from the inside out. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.980 And so when Paul describes the Christian life, he says, it's about one thing. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:01.640 It's not about this list of do's and don'ts. 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:02.720 You can drive yourself crazy. 00:05:02.740 --> 00:05:09.300 As a matter of fact, if all you look at is a list of do's and don'ts, you can live a good life, but you may not live a godly life. 00:05:12.080 --> 00:05:13.420 Because a godly life is about Jesus. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:20.960 And so Paul comes to verse ten and he says, that's what the Christian life is all about. 00:05:20.960 --> 00:05:22.420 It's just one thing. 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:25.320 To know Christ. 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:27.180 Personally. 00:05:28.540 --> 00:05:28.860 Intimately. 00:05:31.260 --> 00:05:32.020 We know when we. 00:05:33.460 --> 00:05:34.610 Think about relationships. 00:05:36.820 --> 00:05:40.160 There's no such thing as a relationship that just stands still. 00:05:41.580 --> 00:05:42.780 You can't freeze it in time. 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:48.580 Now you know, the friendships that you had in high school that you would thought you would have forever, right? 00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:54.460 And then everyone gets married and has kids, and now you don't know where they are except for Facebook when it tells you. 00:05:57.560 --> 00:05:58.440 Relationships don't stay the same. 00:06:00.700 --> 00:06:03.740 They grow or they become divided and separate. 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:07.160 And so is our walk with Christ. 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:13.240 Our relationship to Christ is why we were created in. 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:20.460 God's desire for us is to recognize that one identity that he has given us in Jesus, to know 00:06:20.460 --> 00:06:20.940 him. 00:06:23.320 --> 00:06:25.500 Christianity is about one thing. 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:32.800 And so when Paul approaches Philippians chapter three, verse 12 on into chapter four and verse one, he's describing for us 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.600 one thing, which is our relationship to Christ. 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:40.440 And he's approaching it from different angles as we consider it as a body of believers. 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:46.470 When you watch someone who specializes in one thing. 00:06:47.820 --> 00:06:49.190 It is a pretty unique opportunity. 00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:55.180 I know when Sam grabs a hold of the guitar up here, I could watch him do that one thing for quite a while, right? 00:06:56.780 --> 00:07:03.880 When you watch a master painter work on his canvas, the beauty that comes off of just a plain sheet of 00:07:03.880 --> 00:07:04.340 paper. 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:13.240 Or like some of you today, when you grab your buffalo wing and you sit down in front of the television and you watch these athletes that have tuned their 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:15.440 body toward one thing. 00:07:16.760 --> 00:07:17.700 It captures our attention. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:22.460 And I think that works in the life of a believer to. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.220 Living your life, for one thing. 00:07:27.880 --> 00:07:33.420 I can tell you in my own life, when I walk into this world and I meet people that say they know Jesus, but. 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:35.290 But then live like they know Jesus. 00:07:36.960 --> 00:07:39.960 And when I walk away from them, I feel like I've been with Jesus. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:48.420 They've made their lives about one thing, and it just captures our attention and the beauty of what it represents. 00:07:50.760 --> 00:07:55.930 And Paul says in verse 13, Christians, it's this one thing that we're living for. 00:07:56.200 --> 00:07:57.380 And so he describes it. 00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:01.420 He says, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 00:08:01.460 --> 00:08:06.200 But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what is ahead. 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:11.380 Do you know what kept the Apostle Paul stretching in his relationship with God? 00:08:12.640 --> 00:08:15.240 It's because he always recognized he's not finished growing. 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:18.620 And if he's not getting closer to the Lord, he's getting further away. 00:08:18.820 --> 00:08:19.880 And so he uses this word. 00:08:19.880 --> 00:08:24.320 He says, I'm straining ahead or I'm straining toward. 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:32.679 The picture that Paul paints with the Greek terminology that's used, is one of a race that's being run by a 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:35.799 runner, and this runner is looking at the finish line. 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:43.179 And you know how this works on the 100 meter dash when you watch Usain Bolt or whoever it is, speed down this 100 meter lane ten 00:08:43.179 --> 00:08:45.080 times faster than I ever thought I could run. 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:52.340 When they get to the end, they just stretch their head out or puff puff their chest out just enough to get ahead of the other people to cross 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:53.080 that finish line. 00:08:55.020 --> 00:08:55.900 And that's what Paul is saying. 00:08:58.040 --> 00:08:58.470 Don't get content. 00:09:00.540 --> 00:09:07.300 Because what Christ has called you to, and whatever Christ has called you to your relationship with him is far greater than anything else in this world. 00:09:07.880 --> 00:09:09.220 Don't get content. 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:13.620 But strain towards this one thing he says in verse 12. 00:09:13.800 --> 00:09:19.380 He uses another word where he says, but I press on to take hold for that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 00:09:21.180 --> 00:09:28.660 This word press is often used in Greek literature to refer to the way a predator pursues his prey, or 00:09:28.660 --> 00:09:32.860 the way Nathaniel pursues the top sirloin steak at Takano's when he goes right. 00:09:34.020 --> 00:09:36.150 If that stuff was bubble gum, I would chew it all day. 00:09:39.340 --> 00:09:41.600 But there is a hunger within you that cannot be quenched. 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:44.220 Never be satisfied. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:45.630 I will take gift cards there, by the way. 00:09:49.400 --> 00:09:50.380 And that's what Jesus does. 00:09:52.640 --> 00:09:54.720 When you begin to taste the goodness of who he is in your life. 00:09:56.040 --> 00:09:56.580 You want more? 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:01.480 To never let yourself be quenched by that. 00:10:02.880 --> 00:10:07.240 But to continue to understand for that which you were created is just it's one thing. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:14.290 God made you to know him and to know him for all of eternity and rejoice in his presence. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:24.720 And so Paul says, live for this one thing, to strain toward it to allow the world to be captivated 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:27.540 by you in this focus of your life. 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:30.860 And you press toward this calling that Christ has placed on you. 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:35.720 And not only not only does he say we strain towards this, but in verse 13 he also told us to let go. 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:40.280 Let me read it again, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:43.560 But one thing I do forget what's behind. 00:10:44.820 --> 00:10:47.320 And strain toward what is ahead. 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:52.160 You know, sometimes we think about following after Jesus. 00:10:53.900 --> 00:10:56.240 Some of us look at ourselves and wonder, how could Jesus accept me? 00:10:57.880 --> 00:10:59.690 And I've heard this oftentimes as a pastor. 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:02.030 Yeah, I want to go to church, but I got to get my life right first. 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:05.660 Of which I would say you're missing the point of one thing. 00:11:08.760 --> 00:11:10.370 It's either about behavior modification. 00:11:11.780 --> 00:11:12.610 Our Jesus transformation. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:19.060 And the way that Jesus transforms your life is not by allowing you to go out and do it on your own. 00:11:20.680 --> 00:11:21.500 Rather you come to him. 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:27.740 And he knows we've all got mistakes, sins, and skeletons in our past. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:31.080 In fact, even knowing that he died for that. 00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:35.280 Jesus doesn't love you for who you think you should be. 00:11:37.020 --> 00:11:37.860 He loves you for who you are. 00:11:40.180 --> 00:11:41.080 And he is the only cure. 00:11:42.380 --> 00:11:43.020 To a heart. 00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:44.480 Longing for a home. 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:52.900 And so Paul comes to verse 13 and he says, not only is about straining ahead, but it's also about forgetting what is behind. 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.880 If Christ could die for it and say it's finished, it's time you did too. 00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:03.640 To forget as a believer doesn't mean you fail to remember. 00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:10.140 What it really means for us is to count it as loss and let it go to forget. 00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:14.460 And the Bible means no longer to be influenced by or affected by. 00:12:15.280 --> 00:12:19.440 In fact, when God promises their sins and iniquities, will I remember no more. 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:25.000 In Hebrews 1017, he's not suggesting that he will conveniently have a bad memory. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:26.960 That's impossible. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.020 God's omniscient. 00:12:29.760 --> 00:12:30.640 Rather what he's saying. 00:12:31.880 --> 00:12:33.700 Is that I will no longer hold their sins against them. 00:12:35.640 --> 00:12:36.500 Forget what lies behind. 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:39.940 An athlete cannot win. 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:43.880 The victory of today's training for the finish line focused on the weight of yesterday. 00:12:45.180 --> 00:12:51.200 You as a person cannot obsess about the one thing that God has called you to in this world when something else occupies your mind. 00:12:52.520 --> 00:12:56.060 In James one eight says this A double minded man is unstable. 00:12:58.060 --> 00:13:05.220 And the truth is for us as people this morning, regardless of what our past is, we cannot change the past. 00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:08.260 But we can live for a future. 00:13:10.540 --> 00:13:12.450 And we can redefine the meaning of our past. 00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:19.040 When you think about the Apostle Paul and the type of individual he was before he came to know the Lord. 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.300 There was a radical transformation in his life. 00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:25.500 And the credit that he gives all of this. 00:13:26.640 --> 00:13:30.880 If you read in Philippians chapter three, Paul said in verses five and six, it was not Jewish religion. 00:13:32.740 --> 00:13:33.380 It was just Jesus. 00:13:35.020 --> 00:13:35.780 Was to know him. 00:13:37.380 --> 00:13:40.580 And Paul says, and within Scripture, he has skeletons in his past. 00:13:40.900 --> 00:13:48.100 As a matter of fact, in First Timothy writing, two Timothy his, I should say spiritual son in the Lord, he says in verse 12, I 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:52.660 thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he can. 00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:59.860 He considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service, even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent 00:13:59.860 --> 00:14:04.660 man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 00:14:05.900 --> 00:14:12.080 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:15.610 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:19.620 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. 00:14:20.900 --> 00:14:23.780 But for that very reason I was shown mercy. 00:14:25.160 --> 00:14:25.740 So that in me. 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:27.790 The worst of sinners. 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:35.560 Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:38.820 Paul says. 00:14:40.460 --> 00:14:41.820 Not only have I let go of my past. 00:14:43.280 --> 00:14:45.050 But God's redefined it for his glory. 00:14:46.680 --> 00:14:53.900 It gives people hope when they see your circumstance, your situation previous to Christ and now God giving 00:14:53.900 --> 00:14:56.740 you this new hope, this new freshness in him. 00:14:56.760 --> 00:15:03.000 And it's not anything that you've done but what Christ has done as you surrendered to him because your goal is just one thing to know him. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:06.520 The goodness that God brings out of that. 00:15:08.540 --> 00:15:09.900 Last. 00:15:09.920 --> 00:15:16.960 This past Saturday we had men's breakfast here and we had the guy from Radio Christian Radio station in Utah County came up and just shared his 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:17.410 testimony. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:20.960 And his testimony from beginning to end was like Paul's. 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:23.360 And it was beautiful. 00:15:25.460 --> 00:15:27.020 To see what God has done in his life. 00:15:29.060 --> 00:15:32.260 Knowing that God has always loved him, God has always extended himself to him. 00:15:32.260 --> 00:15:33.400 Jesus has come. 00:15:33.400 --> 00:15:39.220 Jesus has died for him, that he could just surrender to him and be embraced by the one who wants to transform him from his heart, from the inside out. 00:15:42.160 --> 00:15:42.380 One thing. 00:15:44.860 --> 00:15:50.880 And so Paul then says in verses 15, let us therefore, as many as are perfect have this attitude. 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:55.400 If in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. 00:15:55.640 --> 00:15:59.660 However, let us keep living by the same standard to which we have attained. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:05.200 This word for perfect in the text could also be translated in Greek as mature. 00:16:06.640 --> 00:16:13.600 And what Paul is saying here is he's looking for body of believers that are spiritually mature, spiritually minded. 00:16:15.540 --> 00:16:16.620 Living for this cause. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.720 Knowledge is not maturity. 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:25.940 Just because you know about Jesus doesn't mean you know Jesus. 00:16:28.420 --> 00:16:30.100 Knowledge isn't maturity. 00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:31.180 Knowledge isn't wisdom. 00:16:31.180 --> 00:16:36.520 Wisdom is the application of knowledge, and maturity is the living out of wisdom that you have? 00:16:38.900 --> 00:16:39.880 Maturity deals with character. 00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:44.200 To be spiritually mature. 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:49.780 Sometimes we like to have a picture of an individual that's not honestly mature as God would describe it. 00:16:51.980 --> 00:16:59.080 And sometimes we think being spiritually mature is mystical and dreamy and impractical and distant and you've got to say lots of these 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:00.120 and these and. 00:17:02.400 --> 00:17:02.980 God doesn't care. 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:07.250 He's just interested in the heart you bring before. 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:10.250 There's no semantics. 00:17:11.180 --> 00:17:12.700 You have to play to come before God. 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.680 As a matter of fact, when you come to God, God's desire is that you come empty. 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:23.020 Because there's nothing that you're going to do to impress him, and there's nothing that you're going to do that he can't already do. 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:28.200 But rather what God desires is you in your heart. 00:17:29.740 --> 00:17:31.340 Because what he created you for is to know him. 00:17:33.760 --> 00:17:40.960 To be spiritually minded or mature simply means this you look at Earth from heaven's 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:41.710 perspective. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:48.260 The way that God desires to view this world is the way your heart desires to view this world. 00:17:49.560 --> 00:17:53.880 In Colossians three two it says this give your heart to heavenly things, not to the passing things of earth. 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:57.310 And I say all that to say this. 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:00.800 Sometimes as church people, we get weird. 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:09.080 We like to make life that God has given us about more than what it was intended to be. 00:18:11.260 --> 00:18:17.880 As a matter of fact, there are some things we should not care about in the name of Jesus and other things that we need to care more about in the name of Jesus. 00:18:19.280 --> 00:18:20.600 All right. 00:18:22.100 --> 00:18:23.860 What God's concern about on Sunday morning. 00:18:23.860 --> 00:18:27.600 We gather together as a body of believers is not the color of our carpet and the color of our walls. 00:18:28.300 --> 00:18:34.080 I would be a little concerned with the outside of our building, but what God's really concerned about is your heart. 00:18:36.600 --> 00:18:37.280 Don't want to play games. 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:40.950 Don't go to church to go to church. 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:46.900 I come here because I know that God desires my heart to praise his name. 00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:55.480 And as I connect to God in my heart, God desires for me to connect with others as a heart that reflects him having, heaven's perspective 00:18:55.740 --> 00:18:56.120 of Earth. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:05.560 And so as a church family, when any of us gather, when anyone walks through our doors on Sunday morning, all of us understand that what it's about is the 00:19:05.560 --> 00:19:05.840 heart. 00:19:07.760 --> 00:19:10.630 And there needs to be a place in our lives where we can just come empty. 00:19:12.500 --> 00:19:15.240 And just say before the Lord God, I just want to make it about one thing. 00:19:17.420 --> 00:19:18.440 I'm tired of games. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.000 I'm tired of these rules. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:21.000 I'm tired of everything. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:22.160 I'm tired of failing. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:23.740 I just want it to be about one thing. 00:19:23.740 --> 00:19:25.020 If you made me to know you, I just. 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:26.440 I just want to know who you. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:37.560 To specialize in it, to strain towards it, to press in it, to let go of everything as Christ has let go of it for us, and 00:19:37.560 --> 00:19:38.880 mature in that relationship. 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:46.780 To understand that what God has called us to is to just give our hearts to him, and the simplicity that he may work his miracle 00:19:46.800 --> 00:19:47.520 in us. 00:19:49.780 --> 00:19:56.780 And so Paul then goes on and describes in verse 17 to 19, for us as a body of believers need to recognize there are people who 00:19:56.780 --> 00:20:00.540 gather in the body of Christ that don't really belong to Jesus. 00:20:00.580 --> 00:20:04.180 They can look maybe even like they might belong to Christ but don't belong to Christ. 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.880 And so it's important to find godly examples. 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:14.440 And so he says in verse 17, brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:22.700 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, 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:28.000 whose God is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:32.880 Paul saying, find godly examples. 00:20:34.060 --> 00:20:35.920 This one thing is so important in your life. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:43.140 It can should consume you so much in what God desires to do in you and through you, that as you're thinking about how to press, you need godly examples 00:20:43.140 --> 00:20:44.520 to encourage you in that as well. 00:20:45.520 --> 00:20:47.940 Because God created all of us for community. 00:20:48.780 --> 00:20:51.900 None of us likes to live life by ourselves or feel like we're alone. 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:57.400 Matter of fact, just to satisfy that, I'll get on Facebook to see what's happening in the world, right? 00:20:59.280 --> 00:21:01.420 Randomly text someone just to let them know I'm there. 00:21:03.900 --> 00:21:04.490 And Paul says. 00:21:06.100 --> 00:21:12.500 If you're looking for relationship and you're looking for friendship and you know how important one thing is, then find a godly example to relate that to your life. 00:21:14.020 --> 00:21:14.460 Don't settle. 00:21:15.620 --> 00:21:16.280 Pursue it. 00:21:16.280 --> 00:21:23.280 Because on the back end of that, there are people who come into the body of Christ and stand as enemies of the cross. 00:21:26.300 --> 00:21:27.880 Can I say something important about verse 18? 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:32.220 When Paul talks about enemies of the cross. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:38.200 One of my favorite things that Paul says here deals with his attitude towards those people. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:45.380 It says for many walk, of whom I often told you and now tell you, even weeping. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.430 They are enemies of the Cross of Christ. 00:21:51.280 --> 00:21:52.260 I like that Paul recognizes. 00:21:54.100 --> 00:21:54.810 They don't know Jesus. 00:21:56.920 --> 00:22:01.860 But also like recognize recognizing this passage that Paul's heart's broken. 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:02.840 For those who don't know Jesus. 00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:06.400 They may stand in opposition to Christ. 00:22:07.800 --> 00:22:08.660 Well, Paul isn't yelling at him. 00:22:10.140 --> 00:22:12.240 Paul's not angry towards them. 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:14.040 It's broken. 00:22:16.560 --> 00:22:19.920 He's broken because he is a man that understands what Jesus has done in his own life. 00:22:21.420 --> 00:22:22.300 He was just like him. 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:29.120 And he weeps just to see the same miracle that God worked in his heart to work in their heart. 00:22:30.940 --> 00:22:32.200 And yelling doesn't reach that. 00:22:33.820 --> 00:22:41.220 And so Paul, even in Romans ten, elaborates a little further on his attitude towards the Israelites, which were the individuals 00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:46.600 that perpetually followed Paul and his ministry and caused opposition for him wherever he gathered to plant a church. 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:55.080 So it says in Romans ten and verse one, brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 00:22:56.900 --> 00:22:58.160 For I can testify about them. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:00.360 They have a zeal for God. 00:23:01.600 --> 00:23:03.040 But their zeal is not based on knowledge. 00:23:04.280 --> 00:23:07.540 So they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own. 00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:09.660 They did not submit to God's righteousness. 00:23:12.100 --> 00:23:19.120 Well, Paul saying in chapter ten is this these people came to this road in life where Christ has covered you and Christ wants to redeem 00:23:19.120 --> 00:23:24.240 you, and Christ wants to work in you and through you or you can do it on your own. 00:23:25.840 --> 00:23:30.900 And he's saying, these people, these Israelites, they sought to do it on their own, in their own religious experience, and they have a zeal for God. 00:23:31.100 --> 00:23:33.800 That's admirable, but they just they don't know him. 00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:37.540 My heart's desire. 00:23:39.120 --> 00:23:44.820 And my prayer for them, rather than to be mean to them, is to understand the same grace that's been extended to me. 00:23:44.840 --> 00:23:48.260 God is extending that grace for them, and I just want to see them know him. 00:23:50.600 --> 00:23:55.820 And so in verse nine he says this I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:23:57.820 For. 00:23:57.840 --> 00:24:04.960 I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race. 00:24:06.800 --> 00:24:07.980 That they may just know him. 00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:18.400 God wants you to have examples that encourage you in your life, and even with those that discourage you, rather than respond 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:20.060 in anger or frustration. 00:24:21.860 --> 00:24:22.960 To just break for them. 00:24:24.980 --> 00:24:31.330 And just to share with them the beauty of what Christ is that in you as you are refined in this one thing. 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:36.500 When they walk from you, it's as if they walk away from Jesus. 00:24:39.120 --> 00:24:43.180 And so Paul concludes the section with this thought in chapter three and on to four. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:47.640 He encourages us to continue in a vision for this one thing. 00:24:48.860 --> 00:24:55.940 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for the for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the 00:24:55.940 --> 00:25:03.000 body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of his power that he has even to subject all 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:03.960 things to himself. 00:25:05.320 --> 00:25:08.380 So now, as Paul says in everything in this passage, it's all about Christ's power. 00:25:10.080 --> 00:25:11.580 And your citizenship belongs to him. 00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:18.790 And I think Paul uses the word citizenship here because it was of particular importance to the people of Rome. 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:23.540 To be a Roman citizen was a very prominent thing. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:26.000 It costs a lot of money. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:33.980 If someone who was captured by a foreign nation brought into the Roman Empire wanted to purchase their citizenship. 00:25:36.360 --> 00:25:43.500 And Paul saying, the way that you value that citizenship in Rome, the way we look at that citizenship as people and some of us crave it and 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:50.600 some of us have it and appreciate it, that appreciation for that citizenship, it should be more so with the citizenship that you possess 00:25:50.600 --> 00:25:51.200 in heaven. 00:25:54.180 --> 00:25:55.040 Don't ever undervalue it. 00:25:56.580 --> 00:25:57.380 Take it for granted. 00:25:59.040 --> 00:26:02.740 But appreciate what God has given you and by acknowledging your citizenship. 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:06.520 You clarify what law governs you, which is Christ? 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:10.280 Not the world, but belonging to Jesus. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:18.960 And for us as believers, it's easy to endure hardship during the day when you know that joy comes in the morning. 00:26:19.760 --> 00:26:25.200 Ultimately, when your peace rests in Christ, as Jesus hung on the cross, he said, it is finished. 00:26:25.600 --> 00:26:29.040 And so regardless of what happens in this world, it's all passing away. 00:26:29.040 --> 00:26:32.660 And the hope to come in Jesus far surpasses any of that. 00:26:35.040 --> 00:26:40.880 Which is why even the life of Abraham, he ultimately looked for a city when he was content to live in a tent. 00:26:41.120 --> 00:26:48.380 Or when it came to Moses, he looked towards the rewards of heaven, forsaking Egypt and wandering in the desert because of the joy of his walk in 00:26:48.380 --> 00:26:55.440 the Lord, even Christ in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse two says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. 00:26:57.820 --> 00:26:59.060 Jesus one day. 00:27:00.300 --> 00:27:01.320 Will subdue all things. 00:27:01.320 --> 00:27:03.610 It tells us in verse 21 under his authority. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:06.300 And you belong to that kingdom. 00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:10.800 And so Paul ends with his final thought in verse one. 00:27:12.380 --> 00:27:13.740 Therefore, my brothers and sisters. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:16.920 Whom, whom I love and long for. 00:27:18.320 --> 00:27:19.960 My joy and crown. 00:27:21.260 --> 00:27:23.680 Stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends. 00:27:25.980 --> 00:27:33.100 And what Paul concludes with as he has pursued this one thing in his life, as this one thing impacts the world around 00:27:33.100 --> 00:27:33.340 him. 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:36.980 As you pursue Jesus. 00:27:36.980 --> 00:27:41.080 Jesus is demonstrated in your life and other lives are changed through that. 00:27:43.040 --> 00:27:48.740 And what a joy it would be as a spouse coming before your spouse to look at your wife hoo hoo! 00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:56.060 In your relationship or your husband in your relationship, saw Jesus in you and they become your joy and crown because they begin to reflect the same example you 00:27:56.060 --> 00:27:57.120 set forth in your marriage. 00:27:58.920 --> 00:27:59.810 What about your children? 00:28:01.320 --> 00:28:05.600 Growing up in the Lord from a godly mother or father who just loves him and prays for them. 00:28:05.600 --> 00:28:12.740 Heart breaks for them when they don't understand the goodness of Jesus, but still ministers to them, and they grow in the Lord, and they become your joy 00:28:12.740 --> 00:28:13.260 and crown. 00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:17.230 What about your neighborhood? 00:28:18.620 --> 00:28:19.520 The area that you live. 00:28:19.520 --> 00:28:20.280 The place where you work. 00:28:20.320 --> 00:28:21.150 The people that you impact. 00:28:24.180 --> 00:28:27.180 The beauty of just one thing being lived out. 00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:34.840 Obsessed with the goal of pressing towards it, to be able to let go of the things that have shackled you. 00:28:34.860 --> 00:28:42.060 To embrace this God who has called you to such a glorious future, letting go of what is behind and pressing towards 00:28:42.060 --> 00:28:43.880 what God has called you. 00:28:46.260 --> 00:28:46.800 One thing. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.340 Impacts the world for Christ. 00:28:53.220 --> 00:28:55.100 Maybe the question I just leave with you this morning. 00:28:57.100 --> 00:29:01.150 As you look at this last verse, as do you, do you look at people as Jesus looks at people? 00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:05.830 You look at yourself the way that Jesus looks at you. 00:29:07.900 --> 00:29:10.540 Have you made your life about anything other than Christ? 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:14.300 Or is it just about knowing him? 00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:23.360 And when the fork comes in the road between modifying your behavior so that people find you acceptable, or just simply coming to Christ empty handed 00:29:23.360 --> 00:29:26.340 to allow him to transform you from the inside out. 00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:33.240 I remind you this morning that whatever Jesus can do in you and through you is far greater than any power that you might express in your own strength. 00:29:34.940 --> 00:29:37.060 It's far easier just to surrender. 00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:45.560 And the Christian life from beginning to end for us, for those who desire to be what God has called us to be. 00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:48.620 As simplistically about one thing. 00:29:49.860 --> 00:29:57.040 And so my heart's desire for us as a body of believers is that with all that we are, as we give ourselves to him, that he may work 00:29:57.040 --> 00:29:58.060 through us and in us.