Choosing Excellence Over Loss-4

CHOOSING EXCELLENCE Over Loss-IV—Php. 3:7-16

Attention:

David & Paula Eddins were career foreign missionaries to Sri Lanka. They were commissioned on June 29, 1993. They were certain of their calling to the foreign mission field years prior to actually being accepted by the FMB. David had to attend certain classes & show a desire to work with those of other cultural backgrounds in order to meet all the requirements. David went through the tedious process of taking classes, which he felt he didn’t need. They entire family continued ministering to the migrant Mexican workers in a Spanish-speaking mission church in N.C. Finally, with only months before they would have been disqualified due to the age of their oldest son, Eric, they were accepted for commissioning & told that they could prepare to take 600 ft3 of belongings with them to the place where they would serve. The whole family was elated! Then the weeks clicked by & as the time for their official commissioning grew closer, the family started to realize how drastic a move they were making. They got nervous because they realized, since they were lifetime missionaries, that they would only rarely, see the U.S. again. They were nervous because they were on the verge of entering into a situation where they were vulnerable because they were going to be assigned to a country whose religion, lifestyle, language & people were completely foreign to them. But being lifetime missionaries, they are going to have to conform to the ways of the people of Sri Lanka, as closely as possible without compromising the Gospel. They had to do that in order to bring the Gospel to the people on their level. They will train native people in the Gospel message & teach them how to apply it to their own particular lives, in their own particular country, facing their own particular problems, which their particular situations present to them.

?Do You maintain the level of commitment necessary to honor Jesus?

Paul told the Philippian Christians the value & means of maintaining a high level of commitment to Christ.

Christians are expected to maintain their commitment to Christ.

How can Christians maintain their commitment to Christ?

4 means of maintaining commitment to Christ.

Last Sunday morning we found that

Those who maintain their commitment to Christ...

1. SEPARATE TRASH From TREASURE(:7-8)

2. CHOOSE The TREASURE(:9)

3. NURTURE INTIMACY With HIM(:10)

Today we will also discover that...

4—Those who maintain their commitment to Christ...

FOCUS On The GOAL(:11-16)

Explanation:(:11-16)

:11—“if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

:12—“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

:13—“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind & reaching forward to those things which are ahead,”

:14—“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

:15—“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; & if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”

:16—“Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

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:11—“if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul’s “if, by any means” is NOT a statement of a person who is grasping & clumsily fumbling for some vague/unclear/iffy/unsettled avenue of reaching God. Rather this is the statement of a man who is so committed to Christ, that he will not allow any proper means of honoring his Jesus/Christ to slip past his full attention, interaction, & involvement.

An intimate & growing knowledge of Christ allows me to “attain”/reach/achieve/live a life worthy of/to being resurrected from the dead. To “attain”(katantaw) is to willingly position oneself so as to stand directly opposite “the resurrection from the dead”...so that you face it directly with intent...so that you never lose sight of it!

If our lives are worthy of resurrection in Christ(into the eternity of heaven), then we will be those(& of those) who, here & now, trust Jesus in every aspect of our life.

“If/In order/And so”—ei—Conjunction—1) If, whether. Strong—a primary particle of conditionality; If, whether, that, etc.

“By Any Means/Somehow”—pwv—Particle—1) How, in what way. Strong—an interrogative particle of manner; In what way?(sometimes the question is indirect, how?); also as exclamation--How much!.

“Attain/Arrive”(See :12—lambanw)—katantaw—Verb—1) To come to, arrive—1a) To come to a place over against, opposite another, 1b) metaph.--To attain to a thing. Strong—To meet against, i.e. Arrive at(literally or figuratively). Used 13X.?From—kata—1) Down from, through out; 2) According to, toward, along. Strong—a primary particle; prepositionally--Down(in place or time), in varied relations(according to the case [genitive case, dative case or accusative case] with which it is joined).—& a derivative of—anti—1) Over against, opposite to, before; 2) For, instead of, in place of(something)—2a) Instead of, 2b) For, 2c) For that, because, 2d) Wherefore, for this cause. Strong—a primary particle; Opposite, i.e. Instead or because of(rarely--In addition to).