This sermon was delivered to St Oswald’s in Maybole,
Ayrshire, Scotland on the 5th October 2014
(a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Summary: Is our priorities that dictate to us how well we live our lives; but it is the Lord who determines what our priorities are because he in us is the one who is really in control. Read on to see how he does this!
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Psalm 19 Psalm 80: 7-14 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46
“Please join me in my prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
Introduction:
Have you noticed that as we age … our priorities in our lives change? And as we walk further with the Lord … our priorities change again; … and it is these priorities that dictate to us how well we live our lives. They dictate what and why we do certain things; they determine where and when we should take action, that is if we take action, and they also decides to whom we speak … and to whom we do not. I like the saying, or maybe I don't, "show me your friends, and I will show you your future".
But different people do have different priorities in their lives. For some work is their priority … for others, their priorities lie around their families … and of course there are those whose priorities lie in themselves; those who think not for others … but only in what they can get from others. For other people money is their number one priority; and they will do anything for money; and we all know the expression, "that one, he will sell his own granny".
Yet other people have made God their number one priority, because when he is in charge, everything else kind of falls into place. So my conclusion for today's sermon is that we need to make the Lord our number one priority in life.
But how did I come to this obvious conclusion so quickly, well if you look at someone's life closely, you can actually see where their priorities lie, and I would like to think that you see God as my main priority in life … but … I will not be offended if you do not … because I know I fail at so many things.
But all this is just the introduction to the priorities the apostle Paul had in his life at various times: … both before and after his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus; … it is from these priorities … we see: what Paul had … what Paul lost … and what Paul gained since this encounter.
Philippians 3:4b-14
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
A. What Paul had
We will start this morning by looking at with what Paul had … and although we did not read it this morning verse 3 in Philippians 3 says, "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh". This verse sums up the conclusion I just made, because it means that the true mark of a Christian is to put our faith, and our confidence in the Lord, and not at all in our flesh … which is of course ourselves, and in what we can do.
And this verse is very strong … because it means that we should do everything through Christ, and I mean everything as Paul later on in Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" … and today's readings lead up to why he said that. Verses 4 to 6 … "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: … circumcised on the eighth day … a member of the people of Israel … of the tribe of Benjamin … a Hebrew born of Hebrews; … as to the law, a Pharisee; … as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; … as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Paul here is bragging about his self-righteousness here and he list six qualities of himself that are better than anyone else … that is, according to the Old Testament … and yes Paul does have the right to brag as we will soon find out … revealing some remarkable facts about his early life.
1. Circumcised on the eighth day.
The first fact says Paul, is that he was "circumcised on the eighth day" … and by this he makes reference to the command given in Genesis 17:12, which states that all Hebrew or Jewish males must be circumcised eight days after their birth as this was the seal of the covenant that God had made with Abraham … and Paul is clearly telling us here that he was not a Jewish convert, but a Jew from the day he was born. Paul was born and raised as a Jew.
2. "of the stock of Israel".
Next he says that he is " … of the stock of Israel" and by that he means that he is of the race of God’s chosen people. Paul needed to say this because many of the Jews who lived in Palestine during Paul’s day, were of mixed breeding, they maybe Jewish from birth, but they had mixed parents or grandparents.
Paul on the other hand was a direct descendant of Abraham and he could recite his family line … in fact many a pure Jews could boast of there family line, and this included the family of Jesus. So from Paul's family line we can see that he had no gentile blood in his veins; in fact Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin … from where the first king of Israel, Saul was crowned … and incidentally, his parents named him after this king Saul, until Jesus told him to change it to Paul. Ok … and the tribe of Benjamin was also the foremost tribe in the army of Israel, and so Paul was very proud to part of that tribe.
3. A Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Next, Paul states that he is "a Hebrew of the Hebrews" … which means that there was no mixing of the custom of the gentiles in his life. Paul lived by the ways of the Hebrew people … he stuck to their language … and ways, so that he was in every sense of the word, a strict Jew by his mannerisms and life style.
4. Pharisee
And Paul did not stop there, as he has more to brag about … not only was he all these things, but he states that he was a Pharisee as well … and this gets better, because to a Jew, the ultimate in religious experience was to be a Pharisee. To them, if anybody was going to get into heaven it was the Pharisees, and they were regarded as the closest beings to God himself … and by that, they led extremely religious lives, outwardly devoted to God.
5. Pharisee with zeal.
And then Paul goes on to say that he was not just any old Pharisee, but a Pharisee with zeal … one who would fight against any, and all opposition to the Jewish faith, and that he hated this new Christian sect … and we know that Paul did persecute the Christian church relentlessly … he was the one after all, who killed Steven.
6. "was blameless".
And finally, number six on this list, Paul boasts that he "was blameless" as far as the law was concerned. Paul was not saying that he was sinless, but he was saying that he lived up to the high standard of righteousness expected of him, a standard he believed at the time to be God’s standard, and therefore he was above all others and was in fact blameless.
So these are the things which Paul had, and these are the things in which he had placed all his confidence … and the basis of his priorities in life, and the things that assured him that he was working for the Lord; and doing so, he would have no problem getting into heaven.
Paul was telling the people of Philippi in this letter, that if anyone was righteous before God, it was him; and that he had every right to brag and boast, but the real point that he was making was that with all these qualifications, was that he was completely and utterly useless in every sense of the word, he says, "all this is nothing", for Christ is everything; and the Greek word for nothing here is the same word used for dung. Verse 7, he says "what things were gain to me, … these I have counted loss for Christ" … because … without Jesus there nothing.
B. Then Paul tell us what he had lost.
To move on … Paul has just told us what he had, and he did have a lot, now he is telling us that he also tell us what he has lost since his dramatic encounter with Jesus, … and it is the very things that I have just listed, without Christ: his circumcision on the eighth day; his ancestry from the tribe Benjamin; being a Hebrew of Hebrews; a Pharisee … with zeal; and blameless, all meant absolutely nothing.
Paul had lost everything he was proud of, everything that ever meant something to him … was all gone. He was left with nothing … and I am 100% sure that when he realised this, his heart must have dropped. Everything he held dearly, he lost, everything he had spent his entire life working for … just simply did not matter anymore the Lord had made it clear, it was all for nothing and it had to go.
Before God, just like Paul, all our works, all our good deeds, all our striving and trying to be holy … all our good intensions are worth absolutely nothing before God … because God just does not see them; ... God only can only see Jesus, and only through Jesus, can God see us.
Can you relate to that, I certainly can, the bottom had completely fallen out of Paul's world. Today we would say that he was having a mid life crisis … because up until now, Paul was only looking at the outside of things … by obeying the outside requirements of the Old Testament law, which under the New Testament turns to dust as we are now, under grace.
C. at what Paul gained.
And I certainly feel for Paul here, because as at many stages in our Christian lives, things happen, and things just do not seam to make sense; and they are normally very painful … everyone around us says that we are too sensitive, and we are taking life to seriously. No we are not sensitive, we are now perceptive, as we are beginning to the world as God sees it, and many times, we do not like what we see.
That is exactly what is happening to Paul here, Jesus has entered his life, and Jesus is showing Paul what life is like through his eyes. Paul found Jesus, or more importantly Jesus found Paul, and turned his very life upside down and inside out. Jesus was changing Paul from what he was … to what Jesus wanted him to be.
Paul's priorities had changed … because Jesus was now in control, and Jesus was directing his life away from where he once was. Do you see the parallel in our own lives. … We are not, or were every going daft, we were getting a new vision of this earth through the eyes of Jesus, and so like Paul we will adapt, because we are being changed from the inside to suit this new vision of what we see on the outside.
At the start of this sermon, the implication was that we should do our best to put Jesus at the centre of our lives, what I am saying here that Jesus is already at the centre of our lives, and as he showing us this world as he sees it, and by doing so, we change accordingly. In effect, Jesus is the one who is in control, as we have given to him the reigns, by worshipping him, enabling us to grow in him.
We are now worlds away from where we were; we have changed so much, and as we changed, we got used to it, we even began to like it … and we grow in strength, and in power, too, and as we do, we never want to go back to the way we were; … as our past lives simple appal to us now.
And that is why Paul did not see all those things we listed as a loss. Yes it was painful at first for him to lose them, it was equally painful for us, but we like Paul, have gained Christ, and we are growing in his faith. And we like Paul must realise that the things we lost needed to be cast away … as without Jesus we are nothing … and without Jesus we will lose everything in the end anyway.
Anything that gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus, and what he wants us to do, will be cast away like garbage; and I mean anything … I am not saying that we will cast them away, No, I am saying that as Jesus reveals himself in us, our view of life will change, and with that, our priorities will change … and with them our lives change … and with that, anything that is holding us back from the love of God, and what he has planned for us … will somehow be discarded and removed from us automatically. We do not need to do anything … God is in control of our lives, and all we need to do is to love and obey him … he will do the rest.
This is confirmed in verse 8, Paul writes in the King James, "Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency … of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: … for whom I have suffered the loss of all things … and I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, … and be found in him".
Yes Paul lost a lot, but Paul also realised that nothing he had lost, could compare with what he had gained … Paul had gained the Lord Jesus Christ … and with him, he gained a friend, and a mighty friend at that … and we like Paul also gain this same friend, who is also our advocate who stands before the Father on our behalf … an advocate who is our personal mediator before God. We also gain a Saviour, a redeemer, a high priest, and the list goes on and on … we have gained Jesus, who "is the name above every other name". And if that is not enough … with Jesus we gain eternal life into the presence of God Almighty, at the end of our lives.
And … … Paul also makes a note of another gaining and that is "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" … meaning that we can have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ ourselves, from where we get our knowledge and our inspiration. We can have a personal loving relationship with our Creator, and I know of no other religion that can claim that.
And … and … to know the Son … is to know that Father, and to know the Father … is to secure our destiny because God does not see our sins either … God can only look at us through Jesus, because God hates sin … but Jesus is perfect … and through Jesus we are perfect before God.
I just love it when it all ties up. You know, many people say the bible is not logical, well how much logic do you want: simply knowing and loving Jesus changes us, it changes our attitudes, it changes our priorities, it changes our very lives … … and as our lives change, all those things that are holding us back from his love … or from his will for us … they are gradually thrown away, … and they are discarded to enable us to love and serve him … even more. I could go on and on, but is this not good news.
But let us finish there, let us pray.
Let us pray.
Father we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he died for us, and with that, we are loyal to do your will.
Father we have always known that we are nothing without you, but today give us the revelation that this is how you want us to be, that we really are nothing, because you want us to draw our very lives from you directly.
Father we know that this is not how the world thinks, as they say that we are in control of our own destiny … but as brothers and sisters of Jesus, we know you are in control; so father to relieve any doubt, let us submit ourselves afresh to you.
Father, we believe that without you, we are nothing, so we want you to enter our hearts, and lead our lives for us … to take control … and live out your purposes here on this earth.
And Father as we grow in you, we know certain things will have to be discarded, please do not make them painful as we lose them, but enable us to rejoice in the those things that you let go … as they will be holding us back from your almighty love and your will for our future.
Father we pray also for Stephen Fournier and his congregation, whose inspiration helped me start and complete this complex sermon.
Father we ask in your almighty name. Amen
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed by this sermon, or any of my sermons, I would be greatly honoured to receive an e-mail from you saying so; I like so many others need encouragement.
I often feel that to deliver a sermon one time to my congregation is such a waste; where as many more could be blessed by its message, after all, it is not for my glory but for his. I would therefore like my sermons to bless more people, preferably internationally and not only in a small part, of a small country called Scotland.
Simply let me know where you are in the world … and any other information you may want to share or be prayed for. I would also take it as a compliment for you to use my sermons in order to bless others in his almighty name. I do not even need acknowledged, but he does, and I will receive a blessing directly from him.
Thank you for taking the time to read, and I wish you "all the best" as we say in Scotland … and I pray that your endeavours in the Lord are equally blessed.
Yours in Christ, Gordon McCulloch, Scotland.
Compiled By: Gordon McCulloch (Worship Leader),
St Oswalds Episcopal Church,
Maybole. Ayrshire.
Scotland. UK
KA19 8KF
E-Mail: gccmcculloch @ aol.com or through Sermon Central
