MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS OK
(PowerPoints used with this message are available at no charge. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request PP #434.)
TEXT: Philippians 3:7-11
Have you ever experienced an embarrassing memory loss? A number of times people have come up to me & asked, "Do you remember me?" I look at their faces & I know I have met them, but at that moment I just can't remember their names.
There have been times, too, when I was preaching along & forgot what I was going to say next. At times like that you sometimes grope for words until your memory comes back & you remember what you intended to say.
ILL. The story is told about a young preacher who went to hear an old & well known preacher, thinking that maybe he could pick up a few pointers on preaching.
As he listened, in his sermon the old preacher made this amazing statement. "Some of the most meaningful moments of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife."
Now instantly the old preacher had the attention of the entire congregation. Everybody was now listening attentively, & the young preacher thought, "Boy, that is really an attention getter!"
The old preacher repeated it to make sure everybody got it. He said, "Some of the most meaningful moments of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife." Then he went on to explain the woman he was talking about was his father's wife, in other words, his mother.
The young preacher thought, "That was great! I’m going to use that in my sermon next Sunday." So the next week he was preaching along & made the same statement. "Some of the most meaningful moments of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife."
And it worked for him, too. I mean everybody perked-up & listened. He wasn't used to having that kind of attention. So, basking in their undivided attention, he decided to say it again with a little more flare.
Gesturing & emphasizing the words he repeated, "Some of the most meaningful moments of my life were spent in the arms of another man's wife." And then his mind went blank.
He stumbled around in his words for a few moments, & then said, "For the life of me I can't remember whose wife she was."
In Philippians 3:7-11 the apostle Paul wrote, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
“I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
”I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
As I’m reading those words I can just picture Paul pausing in the midst of his writing. He leans back in his chair & begins to remember why he became a Christian, & what has happened since that day.
Once he was looked upon as a man of great influence among the Jews, a member of the ruling aristocracy with great wealth & fame available to him. Soldiers & servants followed him wherever he went.
But Paul had given all of that up to follow a man known as a carpenter, a man who didn't own anything except the clothes He wore.
And when asked why, Paul says, "I looked at all I once had & decided it was rubbish." Paul had come to realize that if you have all the things of the world, but you don't know Christ, you are poor indeed.
But if you have Christ, you are rich indeed. Paul was convinced that Jesus is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in a field. He is worth selling everything you have in order to have Him. And that is a message we need to hear today.
I. I WANT TO KNOW CHRIST...
Paul said, "You want to know why I became a Christian? You want to know why I follow Jesus? It is because I looked at all the things that the world desires, & "I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ." And in vs. 10 he says, "I want to know Christ." The only thing that really counts is Christ.
ILL. Two people get married. They love each other as they’ve never loved anyone else, & then they begin to understand more about God's love for us.
You have a baby, & as you hold that baby I’ve heard young parents say, "I think I understand the love of God better now than ever before."
SUM. We go through many experiences in life victories & defeats, troubles & trials, problems & heartaches. But every time we turn a corner there is Christ, & we get to know Him better as we rub shoulders with Him & experience His power in our life.
II. THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION…
A. Now notice what Paul says in vs's 10 & 11. First of all, he says, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection." Paul begins with the resurrection. He doesn't end with it. He begins there because that is where he met Jesus.
Once, he had learned some facts about Jesus. He had studied hard to get all the facts together. His conclusion was that Jesus was an impostor, & that the greatest service he could render for God was to destroy the church.
So he sets out to persecute the church, thinking that he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do. And then one day, on his way to Damascus, he met the resurrected Christ.
B. You see, all of us have been in the same fix that Paul was in. We were lost & headed for a Christless grave with no hope for eternity.
But through the power of His resurrection God lifted us up, & has given us new life inside & out. And we want that power - power such as the world doesn't even begin to understand, power to overcome our problems, & our difficulties. I want that, don't you?
III. THE FELLOWSHIP OF SHARING IN HIS SUFFERINGS…
A. But Paul didn't stop there. He went on to say, "I also want… the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings..." Now wait a minute, Paul. Sharing His resurrection is okay, but sharing in His sufferings? That is going a bit too far.
ILL. A veteran of WW 2 proudly proclaimed that he was a member of the survivors club of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There were not many of them left, but he was one of them. And as he spoke you could tell that he & his brothers had suffered together, & because they had suffered together, a unique fellowship existed among them.
ILL. Alcoholics go through that. Those who have overcome their alcoholism can understand it better than others because they have suffered the same pains & the same hurts.
ILL. People who have experienced divorce can help other people who are going through divorce because they have felt the same hurts. They know what it is like.
ILL. People who have lost little children can help others who are coming through that same experience because they have been there. They hurt the same hurts.
So there is a fellowship in suffering.
B. Look at Paul's life. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, & thrown into prison time & time again. And when he looked at the scars on his body, scars inflicted by the whips & the stones & the lashings, he called them the marks of Christ. "I bear on my body the marks of Christ," he said.
Do you want to suffer with Jesus? I think that can happen in a lot of different ways.
ILL. A minister went to his barber shop during a time when scandalous news about some prominent preachers was being revealed.
The barber, who had been cutting his hair for 15 years, said, "Preacher, are you laying low this week?" The preacher asked "Why?"
"Well," he said, "all preachers are suspect now, aren't they? And you probably have a group of people looking over your shoulder, just waiting for you to make a mistake, wondering if you’re a phony, too."
It's sad, isn't it? If one Christian stumbles & falls, often all of us are seen as phonies."
C. Jesus suffered when they brought sinners to Him. He looked at the city of Jerusalem & cried. He cried because Jerusalem had been offered forgiveness. And they turned their backs on it.
Sin causes hearts to be broken. We suffer with Jesus when we look at a world that is caught up in sin & selfishness. We weep over it & we share in the suffering of Jesus by doing that.
IV. BECOMING LIKE HIM IN HIS DEATH…
A. Then Paul says, “I want to know Christ…by becoming like Him in His death."
I don't want to die, at least not yet. I want to live, & I guess all of us do. But in a sense, every moment that we live for Christ we are also dying for Him. Some of us are moving towards that moment when we will finally lay down this body & take up our new existence with Christ.
Paul literally died for Jesus by being beheaded because of Christ. History records that all but one of the apostles were killed for proclaiming Jesus. Only John is said to have lived to old age, & he was severely persecuted, & exiled to the tiny island of Patmos.
There is something precious about being able to say, "I’ve lived out my time on earth for Christ. I’ve given Him my time, my energy, & my talent. And I’m willing to become like Him even in death."
ILL. John Wilson preached for 44 years in Springfield, OH. At the age of 75 he was still preaching. He often introduced himself to others by saying, "I’m John Wilson. You have never heard of me, but you have heard of my brother, Seth."
John spent most of his life preaching to a congregation in the little town of Springfield, OH. He had built a strong church there, & was wondering how to pass the baton on to a younger man who would follow him.
He asked, "When I quit preaching do I have to quit ministering? Do I have to stop calling on people? Do I have to stop praying with them?"
You see, he didn't want to interfere with the new man who was coming in, but his question was, "Do I have to stop serving? I don't want to stop serving."
When you looked into his eyes, you saw the marks of Jesus, marks of kindness, understanding, & sympathy that had been etched in his face over decades of serving - decades of faithful preaching; decades of marrying young people in love & burying people who die; decades of counseling & praying & serving.
His wore a watch made by Timex. His suit came from J.C. Penney. He drove a compact car. You didn't see his name in the headlines. But he left everything to follow Jesus. And that is the greatest epitaph you can ever have on your tombstone.
In a time of materialism & corruption, it seems to me that there is not a passage in the Bible that has more to say to the church than the one we have been considering this morning.
V. ATTAIN…RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD.”
Paul said, “I want to know Christ…” & then ended this passage with “and so… attain to the resurrection from the dead.” You see, we don't offer an invitation that just promises the power of the resurrection. The invitation also includes the fellowship of suffering, the promise of death, & our resurrection from the dead to be with Jesus!.
You may not want an invitation like that, but it is important for you to understand that the invitation always includes that whether you want it or not. That is the only way we are ever going to gain Christ & get to know Him.
You'll find, as Paul found, that it is well worth it. Christ is that pearl of great price. He is the hidden treasure. He is worth whatever sacrifice we may be called upon to give in order to gain & know Him.
INVITATION:
