Walk This Way – A Sermon on Philippians 3:17
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in unity with the Holy Spirit.
When we’re born, we don’t know how to do anything. We can’t walk or talk or even chew gum. As an infant, the only behaviors that we are able to do on our own is just the basic bodily functions: breathing, swallowing, and, well, other less pleasant things. Everything is done for us by someone who cares for us. As we grow, we begin to be able to do other more complex things. We learn to crawl and then to walk. Later we learn to climb, to throw, to tie our shoes, to ride a bike, to swim. But how do we learn to these things?
We learn by having someone teach us. Mom holds our hand as we take those first few steps as she encourages us. Dad shows us how to throw a ball like a big-leaguer. Big brother shows us how to ride a bike without training wheels. We learn how to read by having Mom and Dad read to us and teaching us the alphabet and the sounds the letters make. A teacher at school teaches us to multiply and divide when we go to school. We learn how to do things by having someone who knows more than us show us what to do. Without that help, we couldn’t ever become all that we can be.
And when you don’t have someone to show you how to do things the right way, then you may develop some bad habits of doing things the wrong way. When our youngest son and daughter were just a few years old, we had a little table for them where they would eat their meals. Because of the way the house was arranged, their table was out of sight of the main dining table. We weren’t able to see them and they weren’t able to see us. It was helpful for them to have the little table with the little seats that were just the right size for them, but it turned out to be extremely unhelpful in teaching our son the proper way to eat. We didn’t eat out very often so we went a long time without recognizing his atrocious eating habits. When he did begin eating with us, his table manners might have disgusted a pig. Think of Ralphie’s little brother in “A Christmas Story”. He may have been shown the correct way to eat at some time but he hadn’t been disciplined by us to make sure that he stayed on the right path of using a spoon and fork correctly. Without that oversight and correction, he just did things the way that he thought was easiest and best. We learn how to behave appropriately by imitating others and by being corrected when we do the wrong things.
Just as we need a long period of learning to do things when we are born as an infant and grow into an adult, we also need to learn new ways when we are born again into the new life with Christ. And the way to learn the proper ways is the same as when a child learns – we learn by following the example of someone who knows the truth and follows in the ways of the Lord. Paul understands this and so he writes to the church at Philippi “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” He wants us to follow his example and learn from others who closely follow the example he sets for us. He wants us to walk in the way of the Lord by following others whose feet are firmly on the right path.
Paul is not claiming to be a perfect follower of Christ. He has just written “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Paul knows that he has not attained the perfection of living a completely righteous life nor does he believe that would ever be possible but he is holding himself up as an example of one who strives to live a God-pleasing life. He himself constantly struggles with temptation and sin as he says in Romans 7 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” But his eye is on the prize. He presses on toward the goal even though he’ll never attain perfection.
Although we are all disciples of Christ alone, we can learn from someone who is not perfect so we can learn how to overcome our imperfections, who can show us how to handle the struggles of life, how to handle pride, and resist temptation. Christ is the model of perfection, the perfect standard, and the pattern for believers to emulate. But Christ never pursued perfection, having always been perfect. Paul was a fellow traveler on the path toward the unattainable goal of spiritual perfection and thus a model for believers to follow.
The believers at Philippi would have known Paul personally. He founded the church and baptized many of those early converts to the Christian faith. They knew his character and his devotion to Christ. It was possible for them to follow the example of Paul because of their personal knowledge of him and his personal interest in them. They could measure their own spiritual progress in their Christian walk by comparing themselves to what they knew of Paul’s conduct in his life.
Is it possible for us to imitate Paul in our own Christian walk? We are separated from him by a couple thousand years and we don’t know him personally. We do have his letters which tell us much about what it means to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” So yes, we are able to walk with Paul by studying his letters and knowing how he was able to face difficult circumstances by relying on the strength he found in Christ. But we live in a culture in which the trials and temptations that we face are very different. Human nature is still the same and the sins that we fall into are the same, but the temptations are of a different nature. In Paul’s time, there weren’t 100 channels on TV that show every kind of depravity and wickedness. They didn’t have gangsta rap and pornography on a computer screen. Our world throws temptation at us from every direction. So it’s essential for us each to have someone in our life that we can look to as an example of living life as a follower of Christ, who, like Paul, presses on toward the goal.
Is there someone in your life that you look to as an example of walking in the path of the Lord? Do you take the time to learn from them, to listen to their testimony of faith? Do you know someone who has faced hardship and trials while keeping their gaze upon Jesus? Do you know someone who remains true to the Word of God even when there is a personal cost to be paid for it? Walk in the way of those who walk in the path of the Lord. I can think of many people in this church who fit that description - some who serve the Lord by serving the least of His creatures, some who reach out to the lost with the Gospel, some who are faithful in study and prayer, some who have the gift of hospitality. They are around you, examples for you to imitate. Very few people are as good an example of walking the path of Christ as Paul, but there are many who do excel at least in specific aspects of the Christian life. We may learn to study the Word from someone who is an excellent model of study of the Scriptures. We may look to another for finding ways in which to serve God’s creatures. We don’t have to find one nearly perfect person to emulate in all things. We need to find several people who each have characteristics that we can make our own.
You may be the one that someone else looks to as a model. Be willing to share with others your own methods for study. Be willing to teach someone how to share the Gospel. If you are confident in your faith, help others to be confident in their faith. As a community of believers, we need to put our arms around each other and help each other to walk in the path that the Lord has laid before us. We should each strive for the goal of attaining perfection in our walk with Christ, knowing that our goal will never be attained, but finding joy in the pursuit.
What happens when we don’t continue to strive for perfection? What happens if we become complacent and accept our imperfections since we’re only human after all? Why should we seek to imitate others who reflect the best in aspects of the Christian life? We could feel a lot better about ourselves if we would just compare ourselves to those who have gone off the path. But does a runner become faster by always racing against others that he knows are slower? No, of course not. A runner gets faster by training hard and racing against the best. In the same way, we strive for the goal by seeking to imitate those whose Christian walk is exemplary.
I do have a word of caution however. Christ is our perfect example and model to follow. We can imitate other people who are following in the path of Christ so that we also will follow the path of Christ. But Christ alone is perfect. All those who follow Him are imperfect and subject to temptation. Our human models will sometimes fall prey to these temptations. People will fail People will disappoint us. When that happens, we can’t allow it to derail our own walk. And if we also fall along the path, we look to Christ to help us up, to dust us off, forgive us, and get us back on the path.
May the peace of God, the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
