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Do You Know Him?
What To Consider Before Going On-Mission
Philippians 3:1-11
Commissioning Service for our WorldChangers 2006 Team
(You may listen to this sermon via RealAudio at http://www.boonescreekchurch.com or by clicking here.)
Introduction
This morning, we praise God for the team He has raised from our youth and adults as they go on-mission to Moberly, Missouri. This makes the seventh year that our youth have worked with either WorldChangers or Kentucky Changers in doing missions work in the name of Christ. This morning, we also praise God for Eric Masters, Anthony Varble and the staffers at the Boone’s Creek Camp who will minister to middle and high school students. What a special day this is to see so many young people ready to step out and make a visible difference in our world for the name of Christ.
When I first went into the pastorate in 1999 and even in the ministry back in 1992, I remember that white-hot passion I had to make Christ known to whoever would hear. Yet, as we look at the Apostle Paul, we see throughout his entire ministry he desired to make Christ known — but he also knew that of critical importance for his own life and ministry was to know Christ.
Do you know Him? Not know about Him — as if you were simply looking at His resume? I mean, do you know Him? What does that mean?
1. To know Christ means that we engage in the worship of God.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I could everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8).
Paul here says, “All that I had — all that was to my profit is now in the loss column. And now what was in my loss column is now to my gain.” All that matters is knowing Christ Jesus — to him, that was of the utmost worth and treasure to him. He compared all that used to be in the profit column, all that used to be treasure to Him as ‘rubbish.’
Rubbish here is pretty strong language. Rubbish comes from the Greek word that could also mean dung, manure, even excrement. With that type of waste, it not only describes the substance, but also the content and how you want it out!
I have four children: a five-year-old, a two –year-old and twin eight month old boys. My wife could tell you better than I that it is nothing for us to use 20 diapers a day between our three youngest. One thing about it is that you do not want those diapers hanging around — even our handy dandy Diaper Genie won’t help out that way. You want it out of the house! It’s of no use to you and it is offensive! You want it gone.
This is the essence of worship, dear friends, is that you treasure Christ above all. In fact, the word ‘worship’ comes from the Old English woerthscipe with denotes worthiness, respect, reverence. For Paul, Jesus Christ was of “surpassing worth.” Just knowing him brought joy to his heart that knew no bounds. A.W. Tozer put it so well:
“What is worship? Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven.”
I believe this is why Paul starts the conclusion of this letter that we as Christians are to “rejoice in the Lord.” This phrase comes up again in Philippians 4:4 in a two-fold manner, where Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Since Paul repeats that admonition to rejoice, we must not neglect nor take for granted the object of our joy — which also happens to be the object of our worship! We rejoice in the Lord. This phrase is key through out the entire passage — our joy, our treasure, and our worship must center on Jesus Christ our Lord.
2. To know Christ means that we experience the true righteousness of God.
Philip. 3:9
And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Paul here makes a distinction between false righteousness and true righteousness. And as we ponder Jesus’ words about how blessed we are when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we have to ask, what type of righteousness do we hunger after? Is it a righteousness that we can look at in our own thoughts and activities and words and say, “See, I’m righteous! Look what at what I did. Look at what I said!”
Why this admonition? In the very next verse, Paul unloads on a group known as the Judaizers who kept preaching what I call a Christ-Plus religion. Religions and cults practice this all across the world and have all throughout history. In essence, it means that you bring something to the table to contribute to your salvation. These Judaizers preached that you must trust Christ, but still keep all the Jewish rituals and sacrifices and even hold to the ritual of circumcision.
It must be said that the worship in which the Judaizers were engaged caused the Apostle Paul to be enraged. He told the people to “look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (v. 2). How ironic that Paul, a Jew, called these Judaizers a name that those Jews often reserved for Gentiles. How noteworthy that he called them “evildoers,” even though they were given the “oracles of God” in the Law (Romans 3:2). How pathetic that they felt obligated to follow Abraham’s example of the covenant in circumcision, yet since they did not worship by faith but by the flesh they were merely mutilating themselves.
Then he says, “For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Paul continued by saying, “You think you have confidence in the flesh, I have more.” The interesting thing about his resume in verses 5 and 6, most folks would just kill to have just a few of these things — and Paul had it all and they wished they had it. In fact, take the word WISH and you’ll see what I mean:
- Wielded authority. Paul’s zeal led him to be a “persecutor of the church,” as someone who was given the authority to bring those belonging to the church of Jesus Christ into prison (Acts 22:5).
- Intellect: to be a Pharisee meant you had to have a brilliant intellect. You had to memorize the Pentateuch, know all 613 laws and traditions in place.
- Status: The word “Pharisee” comes from the word to mean “separate.” John MacArthur notes that to reach the level of a Pharisee was to reach the highest level in devout, legalistic Judaism. They were separate unto the Law —
- Heritage: the first three items listed in Paul’s resume had nothing to do with anything he did, but everything to do with what his parents did. Even before Paul could control his own devotion to the Law, his parents laid the foundation.
Paul says, “I had confidence in the flesh — and even had more of a reason to confide in my flesh than any of you Judaizers. But now, they are refuse to me! My treasure that I had in my flesh, it’s trash now.” Why? Because that trash inteferes with the treasure of Jesus!
Romans 2:28-29, Paul says, “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” These Judaizers were currently putting their faith in exactly what Paul did in the past — in their flesh – in merely outside rituals and services.
Paul certainly hungered after a righteousness — a righteousness of his own that comes from the Law. For him, the Law was a ladder by which he climbed to God. Paul is not saying that the Law is a bad thing… on the contrary, the Law is good because it is God’s law. Yet, Romans 3:20 says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” But in Romans 3:21, it says, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.”
So here again, Paul shows a righteousness that comes from God apart from the Law. It comes not from the flesh obeying it, but through faith in the One who kept it on our behalf and who bestows that righteousness to us! The flesh says, “I can get to God by depending on my works!” The Spirit of God through Christ says, “I can get to God only through confident faith and total dependence on Jesus who stood as my substituted on that cross for my sin. 2 Cor. 5:21 says that “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
You say, I’m not like Paul — I don’t think it’s up to me! Good! Yet you must be careful. We can fall into two categories as Christians. One category says, “I’m in Christ. He loves me as I am. I don’t have to do anything for Him because I’m in the kingdom.” Sadly, many are like that. Please examine yourselves
Others believe that Jesus will only love them if they go on a missions trip, come to church every Sunday, read their Bible, etc. They are trying to please God by what they do — not through a relationship. That righteousness comes through a relationship and through fellowship with the one who lived and died and rose again on our behalf.
3. To know Christ means that we enjoy fellowship with Christ..
“ … that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Last Sunday, our church had a wonderful fellowship down at the park. What a wonderful time that was when about 60 of us broke bread together, listened to the youth lead out in some wonderful worship music — we enjoyed a great time of fellowship. What makes our fellowship work here at Boone’s Creek? We enjoy being in each other’s company.
Paul here notes that he wants to know Christ (I hope we’ve gotten that by now!). Here, he says, “I want to know him.” Paul wants to so identify with Christ that He wants to experience what Christ experiences — in full!
Paul wanted to fellowship with Him not only in His life but also in Christ’s death — he wanted to be identified with Him in His sufferings. Through going through the sufferings for Christ’s sake, He could identify with Him fully. In Acts 5:41, as the disciples were questioned and flogged by the Sanhedrin for preaching in the name of Jesus, we see this: “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”
Part of Paul’s initial calling was to suffer for Christ. In Acts 9:15-16, we read: “But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. [16] For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’”
1 Peter 4:13 says, “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. [12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The joyful life, the blessed life in Christ, the calling of Christ to His mission and work only comes through suffering for Christ’s sake.
But He desired to be with Christ in His sufferings so that He would rely only on the sufficiency of God’s grace. Job said in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.” In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
He talks about the power of his resurrection. You see, Paul invested all of his life in following the Law — in trying to do His own to fulfill God’s commands. The power of the Law which he thought lead to life, leads to death because the Law brings along sin, whose wages are death (Romans 3:20, 6:23). Therefore, if the Law leads to death, that cuts off fellowship with the living and holy God who is life!
Here’s the issue: this was all accomplished at the cross. All you have to do is look at the cross. The cross goes in two directions: vertically and horizontally. Paul here is focusing on the vertical nature of his Christian walk: knowing intimately and personally God through Christ. But with that, he desires to not only know God but to make him known in fellowshipping with others. 1 John 1:1-4 says this:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— [2] the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— [3] that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. [4] And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
John desired to proclaim all that Christ is and was and will be — why? — so that all who hear may have fellowship with them, and thus have fellowship with God through Christ. J.I. Packer notes, “The person who is not in fellowship with the Father and the Son is no Christian at all, and so cannot share with Christians the realities of their fellowship.”
Conclusion
In the Antarctic summer of 1908-9, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished.
Altogether, they trekked 127 days. On the return journey, as Shackleton records in The Heart of the Antarctic, the time was spent talking about food — elaborate feasts, gourmet delights, sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating. Jesus, who also knew the ravages of food deprivation, said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS." We can understand Shackleton's obsession with food, which offers a glimpse of the passion Jesus intends for our quest for righteousness.
Do you have that passion for God's presence? Do you have that hunger and thirst after God's righteousness? May God grant us that passion even now.
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God has placed a huge burden on my heart for the country of Trinidad and Tobago. I believe that God has opened a great door for our church to do some construction work at the Mount Beulah Evangelical Baptist Church in Point Fortin from 23-31 January 2007. The team will be called COMET 2007 (Christians On-Mission Engaging Trinidad). Plus, I have been asked to do a Family Life Conference down there as well.
This week, our church will hold our annual Vacation Bible School. We will be using the LifeWay curriculum Arctic Edge: Where Adventure Meets Courage. This is by far the biggest outreach event of the summer for our church. We pray that God through His sovereign grace will draw many children to Himself through Jesus Christ.
