WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT
Sergio Gutierrez Benitez was a kid growing up in a tough neighborhood of Mexico City in the 1950s. By age ten he’d already joined a gang, committed petty crimes, and started using drugs—marijuana at first, then harder drugs. Finally, after years of gang violence and drug addiction, he hit rock bottom in his early 20s and went to a local church to get help.
The priest said, “Have you come to confess?”
And Sergio said, “No, I want help, I’m a drug addict.”
“This is not a rehabilitation center, so get out!” The priest took him by the ear and threw him out. When he kicked Sergio out of the church, he turned around and insulted his mother. From that moment, it was his goal to become a priest.
Benitez thought that if there were more “cool and laid-back priests” who understood what it was like to grow up in poverty, they’d be better able to help troubled young people like himself turn their lives around. He decided that he would be that kind of priest. He checked into a drug rehabilitation facility and after sobering and getting the drugs out of his system, he then entered a seminary, and after several years of study he was ordained a Catholic priest in Veracruz, Mexico in 1973.
Benitez found his true calling when he rescued a child living under a bridge. He took the child in and opened an orphanage in Teotihuacan. Benitez never turned away a child in need. Soon he had dozens of kids in his care, more than he had money to feed. He was going to have to come up with money some way. Benitez thought back to 2 wrestling movies that we made in the 60s that were still being shown on television. They both had the same storyline—a priest who becomes a masked lucha libre wrestler to support a struggling orphanage. It worked in the movies, why not give it a shot?
Benitez took on the name Fray Tormenta “Friar Storm.” He admitted when he started wrestling, he imagined he would make a fortune and get out after a couple of years. He found out that the job paid as little as $20 a night. But he continued to wrestle and to keep a secret that he was really a priest.
But another wrestler attended a wedding he was performing and recognized his voice. Being exposed as a priest didn’t hurt Benitez’s career, it helped it. He built a large following because of the kids he was raising money for. People began to attend his matches with donations of cooking oil, rice, beans, and other food to take back to the orphanage. They also brought pots and pans—not for cooking, but to bang on as encouragement during his matches. “Luchadores were afraid to fight me, not because of my strength or skill but they were afraid of the fans. They would shout out, ‘You can’t fight a priest!’ and throw tomatoes, garbage, and even coins at the other wrestlers!”
He made many tours after this in the US and Japan and became quite famous. The money got larger for him as he went to Japan and would earn $5000 a match. In 2014, Benitez retired for good. Over his career, he broke his nose, ankle, 3 ribs, mangled several fingers, and dislocated his shoulder. But rather than think about all that he’s been through, he focuses on the more than 2000 homeless kids that his wrestling saved from a life on the street. Many have gone on to lead fulfilling lives as doctors, lawyers, accountants, computer technicians, and other professions. At least one other had also become a priest. Several followed his footsteps in the ring.
As some of you may have guessed, yes, Sergio Gutierrez Benitez was the inspiration for the 2006 film Nacho Libre).
Sergio’s enemy of the priest that turned him away became his inspiration to help others. Even the ones we see as representing Jesus can (at times) be an enemy. And today, our lesson is that The Cross Has Enemies.
PHILIPPIANS 3:17-4:1
17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 4:1 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
In our passage this morning, Paul is encouraging the readers in Philippi to imitate him. Not because Paul has everything perfect and figured out, but because he is doing all he can to follow Christ. Paul is urging them to do what he is doing: look to those who walk as an example and walk like they do. And he is saying they are also an example to follow and we should all be doing that.
As you have grown up in the Lord, there are people you see as an example of what you want to be like. I mentioned last week my friend David Young. There are others who are the example of what you want to model in your life. As a minister, I have others who were ministers to me and set an example of what it means to be a minister. I think of my grandfather and my Father who both preached even when I was laying asleep on the front pew of the church. Clif Ditmore who was the first preacher I remember outside of my family. I still hear his preaching cadence and voice in my mind. Then there was John Wright who moved to California in the early 90s to be our preacher and has been a friend for many years now. And there were the youth ministers like Mike Rivard, Tom Gaumer, and Jerry Johnson who took the time to listen to me and treated me like I mattered. Randy Armstrong who told me when I was young that I would be an elder in the church one day. Scott Christensen who showed me how to love teens as a minister and how to still have fun. Silas Shotwell who ministered to me and my wife when times were the darkest. So many more I could name and these names may not mean anything to you, but you have your list, right? Who has encouraged you and who do you most want to imitate?
Paul’s letter to Philippi isn’t just about the happy times, but he soberingly brings up some things that we need to be aware of. Paul says that there are many people who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Imagine hearing this sentence for the first time. People who know what Jesus went through are being reminded that even though the facts of this cruel death on the cross are real. There are those who still walk as enemies of the Cross. They hate the cross. The cross for those walking as enemies is a symbol of resentment. While they did not have to endure its punishment, the people standing in the crowd are still at odds with Jesus. He is physically not in their line of sight and they still hate him. And they are glad to walk this path.
To this day, there are people who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. We encounter them every day.
Paul says, their end is destruction. The day is coming when those who walk as enemies will be destroyed. That is the end for them. There is no hope for someone walking a destructive path when this is all they are willing to walk.
Their god is their belly. Paul is saying that an enemy of the cross of Christ serves themselves first. Their god, the one they follow, is the god of self. When we serve ourselves first and forget others and the true God, we are neglecting what we’ve been called to as followers of the Kingdom of heaven.
Paul goes on to tell the church that “they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.” Doesn’t this describe the world we live in? Shameful things are being celebrated now in our world. If we won’t celebrate then somehow, we are being oppressive and bigoted. We are the ones who are wrong—according to this world. Friends, let us never glory in shameful things. Even when the rest of the world is affirming those things.
WHAT DO WE DO FOR THE ENEMY?
Paul’s desperate plea is that the people who follow King Jesus will be his representatives to share the good news with the enemies of the cross. We are the bringers of hope, the bringers of the Gospel, the feet that are swift to share the Good News with the world who is walking a destructive path.
We have to ask ourselves—How do we treat enemies? With derision or contempt? Mockery and ridicule? Do we disrespect them or curse them? For the enemy, their end is destruction. And Paul says all of this with tears in his eyes. When was the last time you shed tears for the enemy of the cross? When have you wept for the lost of this world? I can’t say I do very often. I have but not as often as I should. I DO and have treated the enemy of the cross with contempt. I do hear mockery. I don’t respect them. We had a neighbor who would treat me this way. He was an enemy of the cross and would throw my faith in my face whenever I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do. His reasoning was I should live by the golden rule and do what he wants me to do. That isn’t the golden rule that was this neighbor’s rule.
With that, I repent of this attitude. My attitude should be that of Jesus and his teaching. We read this this morning in our Scripture reading. We treat an enemy with love.
MATTHEW 5:43-48
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
So let us love them and help them find a way out of this destruction. We will all face destruction in some sense of the word. But that is not our end. We are to bring hope and good news! Our destiny is heaven. By God’s grace, we have all been saved. None of us deserves it. But those who believe still receive it. As Paul says, “but our citizenship is in heaven.”
We will be made new like Jesus. Our lowly bodies may be destroyed, but we will have a new glorious body. We will walk new again like Adam in the garden. No death, no sickness, no thorns, no sweat, no pain. We will live how we were created to live.
Jesus said you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. This comes from Leviticus 19:18 and if you read what it says, it does mention loving your neighbor, but it doesn’t say to hate your enemy. That part isn’t there. That was something that was orally transmitted over the years by those in authority. We have NEVER been called to hate our enemy. But this gave Jesus an opportunity to give them a new command…love your enemy and pray for them. Pray for the enemy of the cross of Christ.
Those people who hate Jesus, who want nothing to do with him or his followers: pray for them. Love them. What an amazing example for us. For those who hate the Lord. Who hate Jesus: love them. If we only love those who love us, we are simply doing what the world does. Only going as far as the world has been willing to go. They only love those who agree with them…at least until someone says something that goes against their belief and then they can be discarded too. So…we believers will live differently and love them no matter what. If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing? Jesus always challenges his hearers to go beyond what they had heard.
Jesus says we must be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect. How many can say that you’ve achieved perfection? We never will until we are made perfect in Christ. The Greek word used here is teleios. This word literally means to be mature or complete. In loving our enemy, in greeting our enemy, in praying for our enemy, we are following the course to maturity in Jesus…to perfection.
Paul ends this passage in Philippians with a greeting. The end of his thought is actually into chapter 4 verse 1. He loves these brothers in the faith. They are his joy and his crown. He is proud of the way this church is living out the Gospel. He encourages them to stand firm in the Lord. And he tells them twice in the same sentence that he loves them. He loved them so much he told them twice in one sentence.
We must all stand firm. While we love our enemy, we still must follow Jesus. Philippi was a Roman colony. It was a little Rome. When people visited Philippi they said, “This reminds me of Rome.” Paul early in this letter to Philippi told the people to “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…” The church is a little colony of the kingdom of heaven. When you are in the presence of God’s people, their values and their lives should point to heaven.
When you see people taking care of the vulnerable, caring for orphans, doing all that is good and right and true, giving to the poor, speaking edifying words to one another in showing honor, showing no partiality or racism, putting the needs of others ahead of their own, you should say: “This smells like heaven! This is a little taste of heaven!” We should be giving the world a glimpse of what is coming in the future. People should look at the words and deeds of believers and say, “You aren’t from around here, are you?” You can tell them, “My citizenship is in heaven. I’m just a passing through.”
INVITATION
Are you loving your enemy? We all struggle with this. I am sure we could all respond to an invitation for prayer to do this better and I want to give you this opportunity. If you need prayer in this area…
Are you an enemy of the cross. Today we want to help you too. We want to lift your life up in prayer to God to change. It is never too late to make a life change as long as we still have breath.
If you are in need of salvation, today is the day of salvation. We can take you here if you believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and you want to live for him, we can baptize you in the water this morning…
