Standing Firm
Lent 2
Phil. 3:17—4:1
† In Jesus Name †
Grace, mercy and peace are yours, gifts from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Two lives, two women, radically different, one lived in fame, and in the spot light, the other lived in a small forgotten country in Northern Europe. The first life in the spot light, full of glamour and fame, attracted wealth, that life, plastered all over magazines, and for the last two weeks, all over the news, and entertainment show. The pictures showed a depressed, troubled, and even tormented lady, who either seemed depressed as deeply as any I have seen, or drugged out of conscious reality, avoiding that which she could not deal with. Of the second life, I have seen one picture, that of a smiling, joy-filled lady, sitting in her barn, next to her sister, surrounded by a new litter of cats.
Two lives, two women, but they share a similar incident. Both lives, as doctors consider it, have ended – Anna Nicole Smith’s a few weeks ago, Tulli’s on Thursday evening in Finland. Though Anna Nicole had all that the world pursues, wealth, fame, more men chasing her and giving her gifts than can be documented in a week of television shows – she lacked something that Tuuli had. Peace.
And even in death, Anna Nicole can’t even be laid to rest and peace, without a circus of litigants, people fighting over a lifeless body. Even at her “funeral”, the fights and insults continue. More threats of more law suits, she continues to dominate the news. For someone who had so much, the shows someone who could not find peace, even in death. We don’t really admire her, but indeed, with society’s fascination growing, I have grown to pity her. In comparison, Pastor John said that Tuuli had gone peacefully, having talked to the nurses about her faith, and having prayed with them.
I really hate talking about death. I have been too close to it, too many times. As a hospital chaplain, when I was 22, working the ER at WestMed Center, Santa Ana – as a hospice chaplain, when we lived in Yucca Valley. Twice, I have come to dang close to it, and until I had my two valves replaced, the spectre of death loomed over me, as those valves where always in danger of disconnecting from the arteries they attached to the heart. My friends, I know what awaits us on the other side, and yet being there, as people have died before my eyes, and realizing how close I have come, I still struggle with discussing it, aside from a removed technical analysis of grief, and even how to minister to those in the midst of it.
About the only thing I do not mind about talking about, when it comes to death, is the way in which those who know Christ, who know God’s love, are able to stand firm in their faith, even as it approaches. It is that standing firm in the midst of all the harsh challenge of death, that shows me that God is with us, in the valley of the shadow of death, and in those places of life, where death might even be preferable.
Today’s epistle describes an option for living life, an option manifested in the two lives I mentioned before. The first, is to stand firm in Christ, knowing and embracing His cross, and what it means. The second option, may seem to give a better life, according to this world’s standards, but lacks the very grace, mercy, and yes peace, that makes life a joy to live, even as we endure hardship, and stare death in the face.
The option to standing firm
Destructive Ends
A Case of Idolatry
Glory in their shame?
Earthly-centered
Let’s start with the worldly way of living, the kind of life we so vividly demonstrated on our televisions for the last 2 weeks. The Apostle Paul gets pretty blunt describing their lives, their belief systems, look at
18For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
It is interesting, that Paul does not talk of these people, who oppose Jesus and His work on the cross, with anger or hatred. These people whom he had talked of before, who now have changed their ways from those of the disciples, Paul describes with the same kind of loss, the same kind of sorrow, that you have when a best friend, or a close family member dies. The phrase translated “even with tears”, is the phrase used for the kind of wordless wailing or moaning that accompanies severe grief.
Paul grieves for these people, because of the road that they have chosen, the road that ends, not in joy, or in peace, but in their own destruction, or as one translation phrases it, a life of total waste.
In very hard words, Paul will note that they are basically idolaters, that they have made gods of their emotions, they have made gods of their desires, of those things they must have. All of that is pictured by Paul, as he claims they have made gods of their bellies, where their entire “worship” is based in seeing themselves fed, in seeing their own needs met.
Consider this quote, from the literature of the time,
"My flocks (which) I sacrifice to no one but myself, and not to the gods, and to this my belly the greatest of the gods: for to eat and drink each day, and to give one’s self no trouble, this is the god for wise men"
We may not actually sacrifice flocks anymore, but doesn’t the world teach us to do the very same thing? To take what we credit ourselves with making of our lives, and use it to satisfy our temporary desires? To gain glory, or fame, or just the self satisfaction that comes from accomplishing what we want our of our lives- based on the world’s standards.
Paul calls this the road to destruction, to waste, to emptiness.
Standing Firm
As a citizen of heaven
As one under Christ’s
Imitate
Not clones – but epistles
There is another way, that is not of the world, that has a different set of priorities.
A missionary tells of a story that illustrates well, the situation we are in as Christians, living in a world that has refused Jesus, that sees his cross not as a blessing, but as something not of any worth. Apparently, in the days before the colonies were set up in what is today Vietnam and Cambodia – there were two kingdoms, each with a king. There was a disputed area, where the two kingdoms met – and several villages. The Kings decided not to fight, but came up with a novel idea. King A would accept taxes and tribute from all the people like him, that lived in houses on stilts, and ate a certain type of long grain rice. King B would accept taxes and tribute from the people in the disputed zone, that lived in shacks on the ground, and ate short grain rice. And so, rather than live in a war zone, the people existed in their villages, together.
We are like that – we live in a world that is the intersection of two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of this world, where the focus is on the now, and the next week. Then there is the Kingdom of Jesus, where we see a different focus, found in verse 20..
20But our citizenship (the rule that determines how we live) is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Do we really understand this? Can we comprehend what it will be like, to be in heaven, in the presence of pure holiness? To see God in all of His glory, and while we are in awe, we are not afraid, nor ashamed of how we failed Him.
There is ultimate peace, there is ultimate joy, ultimate beauty. There is no sadness, no tears, or sorrow. There is the glory of God, there is, words cannot describe. Indeed, Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no one’s heart has imagined all the things that God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (CJB)
Christianity, my friends, is not just about this life, it is about an eternal relationship with God, a relationship He worked to give us, paying a price that goes beyond comprehension. To give us an eternity, with Him, He sent Jesus to die, on the cross.
Paul knew this, and he based his life on it – he would point to others that know and say – look – learn from them. Here is how John wrote about it, in Revelation,
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! Revelation 12:10-12 (ESV)
As we are talking about in Sunday school – we live our lives, based not in trusting the world, but in trusting Jesus work in us. When Paul points to imitating him, and focusing on those who walk through life in the same way, he is talking of the same kind of people John is here. Hear those words again,
They have conquered by the blood of the lamb – they know and trust in Christ’s saving them, by the word of their testimony – they trust in Christ and His blood enough that they are willing to declare it as fact – and by the fact that they don’t love their lives, they don’t put this life, and this world as more important.
Therefore rejoice, for in heaven you dwell.
All because of Jesus, the one who has made the difference in our lives, and given us peace – the peace that can pass every understanding, that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
