October 5, 2008

Paul's Second Career

by Rev. Dr. Jim Carlson

Philippians 3: 4-14

Opening Illustration – Sterling resume – but pointless?

Why does Paul list his resume? Why does he say all his qualifications are meaningless?

Philippians is a letter to a church Paul started. Paul writing from prison. Epaphroditus, gift.

Paul’s detractors – two criticisms:

Paul is misleading them by not requiring circumcision.

Paul is mistaken because he is unqualified.

First response – They rely on outward rituals to please God. We rely on the Holy Spirit. Our worship of God has replaced outmoded rituals like circumcision.

Second response – Paul is very qualified, even though his qualifications are meaningless now.

Brought up following Jewish laws

Pedigree – tribe of Benjamin

Immersed in Jewish language, culture and religion

Expert in the law – a Pharisee

Zealous for purity of Judaism – persecuted Christians

Observance of Jewish law – impeccable.

Great resume – his detractors are wrong to say he isn’t qualified. He is more qualified than they are.

Resume is meaningless. Qualifications are earthly in nature. Good news of Jesus is spiritual.

His detractors think they can please God because they were born into the right family or because they do the right rituals and follow God’s commandments.

Paul teaches a spiritual way to please God through faith.

Life in Christ means suffering for doing what is right. Eventual death.

Life in Christ leads to resurrection – just like Jesus.

Paul doesn’t think he’s done with the race. His resurrection is not guaranteed because of what he’s done already.

He intends to keep living this life following his calling until his death.

He wants the people in the church at Philippi to view themselves and their relationship to God as he does.

Most people who did not grow up in the church tend to think of practicing our faith as being more religious. If you become a Christian, you start doing certain things and stop doing other things.

We tend to think of religion in terms of going to church, reading the Bible, telling other people about Jesus, changing the kinds of entertainment we enjoy, praying before we eat – even in a restaurant, avoiding swearing, etc.

Nothing wrong with that stuff. Paul reminds us to question the basis of what we do.

Do we do those things because that’s what Christians do, or have we completely and utterly thrown our lot with Christ, and in doing so, allowed our lives to be guided by his Spirit, wherever that may take us? Those are two completely different approaches to our faith.

There is a huge difference between being religious and being led by the Holy Spirit to a life of righteousness. On one side, you are trusting in your own piety and effort to be the person God wants you to be.

On the other side, you’re admitting that you can’t be adequately religious by your own effort, and you won’t even try. Instead, you are guided by a sense of God’s calling on your life.

That sense of calling reminds you just how special you are to God, and it helps you to define your purpose in such a way that you just don’t have a need to show everyone else how righteous you are, you’re not worried about following everyone else’s rules.

If you are “found in Christ”, if you are guided by his Spirit, it just doesn’t matter what people think, it doesn’t matter when other Christians say God requires you to take this political position or that one, you aren’t required to vote for “God’s candidate”, even if certain Christians browbeat people into thinking one candidate is God’s choice and the other one is the devil’s.

The question isn’t “Will people think I’m sufficiently religious?” It isn’t “Have I done enough for God that I can kick back and watch the world go by?”

The question Paul’s raising for us this morning is, “Are you going to finish the race?”

Paul had started a lot of churches – wasn’t it enough?

Imprisonments. Beatings. Death threats. Personal conflicts. Disease. Humiliation.

Paul didn’t think he had finished the race. Was he crazy?

Question we as a congregation have to ask ourselves – Are we going to finish the race?

To this community we seem quite pious – nice building, kind people, long tradition in the community, participate in ecumenical services.

Nothing wrong with all that. But we can’t confuse those things with actually being led by the Spirit to fulfill our calling in this community. We have not finished the race.

Our town is an expensive place to live – young parents working low paying jobs find it nearly impossible to get good affordable daycare in Waukesha.

The daycare in our building specializes in helping low income families. And they’re so full they need more space to help more people. We have not finished the race.

Downtown Waukesha is a beautiful place, but the dirty little secret is that we have a horrific problem with drug and alcohol abuse here. Lives are ruined, basically good people end up in jail, children our neglected, and the whole community suffers.

In 2002 a drug addict broke into nine churches including ours in order to find items to fence so that he could buy drugs. In 2005 another drug addict broke into my car while it was parked here and tried to steal my car stereo for the same reason.

We may not be able to set up a drug counseling center or a rehab clinic in our church. But we can support organizations like CCWC who do help meet the subsistence needs of people whose lives are devastated by this horrible disease. We have not finished the race.

We live in a time when churches are closing and people who have traditionally attended one congregation or another are searching for a new place to worship.

Some folks are drawn to a church with a new modern building. Others like a church that has a program for everyone who walks through the door. But I think the most powerful thing a church can do for someone is to be the presence of God in the community throughout the highs and lows of life.

People want a stable environment, a place they can count on, a place where they can always feel welcome. People want a place where they can feel supported during the years when they raise young children.

People want a community where they know they will be treated with dignity as their life comes to an end. People want to know that someone will be there for them as their bodies break down, and be there for their families at the end of their lives.

If we want to talk about God being present throughout the highs and lows of life, then we have to talk about the church being there for people throughout the various stages of life.

When I look at this congregation, who we have, where we are, who has God led to our fellowship, then it’s very clear to me that we have not finished the race. And Paul’s message to us is “Forget what lies behind, strain for what lies ahead, and press on toward the goal.”

Final Illustration: After four years of training, it all came down to just one day” Aug. 3, 1992. British runner Derek Redmond was almost halfway though the 400-meter qualifying run in Barcelona when he collapsed from a pulled hamstring.

Determined to continue despite his agony, Redmond tried to push away the man who suddenly appeared at his side. Then he heard a familiar voice: “Derek, it’s me.” His father, Jim Redmond, had rushed down from the stands to be with him.

“He’s always been my No. 1 fan, by no. 1 critic. I turned around to him and said, ‘I’ve got to finish this race,’ ” Derek recalls. “ And he said, ‘If you’re gonna finish this race, we’ll finish it together.’ ” With his dad’s support, Derek hobbled to the finish line, where Jim let go so Derek could cross alone.

Sometimes we feel like Derek Redmond. Sometimes we don’t think we have what it takes to finish the race. But the Holy Spirit is always present in our community, helping us when we’re limping, cheering us on when we’re cruising, and guiding us when we’re going in an unproductive direction.

We have not finished the race. It doesn’t end until we end. We have not received the prize. We have not completed our mission. We are still important to this community. We still matter.

They don’t need empty religious traditions. They don’t need to be impressed by our fancy buildings. They don’t need our piety. They need us to share Jesus. And we haven’t finished doing that yet.