Carpe Diem Series

“CARPE DIEM”

10/10/10 New Liberty Christian Church, Veedersburg, IN. Rich McQuinn, Pastor

TEXT: PHILIPPIANS 3:1-21

A new movie was released to the theaters Friday, October 8, 2010. The title of the movie is called “Secretariat”. It is a neat movie about a horse name Secretariat. As many of you may remember this horse won the Triple Crown horse racing derby in 1973. The same horse ran the three best horse races in the United States and won all three of them. He broke the track record and to this date has never been broken.

A horse of courage. A horse of talent and more than that a horse with ambition and drive. I liked the horses’ heart and willingness to absolutely do what ever it took to win the race not only for himself but for his owner. I am sure by the end of the year; this film will be nominated for several awards.

It was like the horse knew what was going on in his world. He soaked up the competition. He studied each one presumably. Each time he ran it was like he seized the moment or as we say Carpe Diem. It simply means seize the opportunity while you still have the time to do it.

Paul now writes in chapter 3 of Philippians about all of us seizing up our opportunities to promote Christ.

Not a one of us wants our lives to be just average Joe. We all think that we are better than the average. We work harder, play harder, spend harder and try to out do each other. We are far from being just average. Even if we were, we do not want to admit it. All of us want to live exciting fulfilled lives that count for something.

The Apostle Paul’s is about to give us all his own philosophy of life. What is it that drives him? What keeps him going each and every day? Why doesn’t he just stop and give in. Just like Secretariat, the man is driven. He has a purpose for living. He has a purpose for writing. He has a purpose for witnessing.

No matter how hectic your life is. No matter what comes your way and you think that no one understands or cares, then you must stop and study chapter 3 as Paul writes to his beloved church. You will have a fuller life if you do.

Here we see the former Pastor giving his first established church some good sound advice. He knows that his time is just about up in this life. He knows that he can pass on some wisdom to the next generation who will listen and he delivers to them in three simple ways how to have a more fulfilling life.

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE FOR LIVING?

If I were to ask everyone in this room today “What is your purpose in life?” I would probably get several different answers. “Be a good wife or husband, be a good mother or father, do my job better, be a good teacher, nurse, mechanic, salesperson, and so on.”

Those answers would be good, but they are all secondary purposes. The question is what is your primary purpose in life? In other words, what is your reason for living? Everything in creation has a primary purpose, or a reason for existing. For anyone or anything to be successful, it must fulfill that purpose. Paul states his reason for living in verses 10-11.

Paul is saying “I want to know Christ so that I may be like Him.” Simply put, Paul’s reason for living was to be like Jesus. This is also to be our reason for living. Pretty simple isn’t it? Yes I know we all say that we want to be more like Christ. We think that is the right answer we have to come up with all the time. But---how long does it take you to really understand what that really means to be more like Christ and then to really want it.

To those who have no relationship with God, the idea of serving him seems like drudgery, as if he just wants to steal all of your fun. But to those who have seen the ugliness of sin and the beauty of the Lord, serving and worshiping him is the highest calling and the most wonderful delight. What ever we sacrifice in the process of doing his will is just worthless trash.

I have seen the trash that this world has to offer. I have seen the heartaches; I have seen the missed opportunities of a pure life. I have seen the families utterly destroyed the bankrupt society. I have seen the fall of too many men in their convictions. I have seen the other side of Glory and I know that it is better to live FOR Christ than to ever live as if I do not know HIM.