Sermon.977
See # 602, 614, 640, 729, 739
“A Winning Christian Attitude”
From the pulpit of Bayview Baptist Church, Sunday, June 10, 2001
Philippians 3:7-14
A winning Christian attitude includes a positive attitude about yourself, God, the church, and other people!
The same victorious life that was enjoyed by the Apostle Paul is available today to every believer in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Folks like you and I can become mighty in the spirit of the Lord, and develop a heart of a champion, when we give ourselves over to the mind and the spirit of the Lord.
I’m reminded of a story of a grocery store owner who overheard a young boy using the pay phone at the entrance of his store.
You know how telephone conversations are; you usually hear only one side of the conversation.
The young boy was talking and the store manager was listening, “Hello, sir, I was calling you to see if you could use a lawn boy to do your yard work!”
“Oh, I see, you already have one!”
“Well, is he doing your work to your satisfaction?”
“He is! Thank you sir, I was just checking,” then the young boy hung up the phone.
The grocery store owner looked at the boy and said, “Sorry you didn’t get the job!”
“Oh, no sir,” said the boy. “I’ve already got that job. I was just calling to check up on myself!”
As a Christian we are constantly in need of taking self-inventory, and what a wonderful text this is for such a task.
In order to have a winning Christian attitude, a person must first have a dissatisfaction in his or her life.
That may sound very strange, but in order to turn to the Lord, a person must first be dissatisfied with the status quo, and be willing to have a change of heart.
Unfortunately, many Christians today have become satisfied in their walk with the Lord.
They no longer move forward with Christ, but are content to just sit and soak up like a sponge on a pew.
Late one night, a mother and father were awakened by a loud noise from their son’s bedroom.
Rushing into their son’s room, they found their son had fallen out of his bed.
Comforted by his parents, the little boy said, “I guess I fell asleep too close to where I got in!”
That’s a commentary for us on the spirituality of many Christians today.
They fall asleep too close to the place where they entered into their personal relationship with the Lord.
The Apostle Paul lost his old life of sin and he gained his new life with Christ.
He was dissatisfied with his old self, but he became very satisfied with his salvation.
Yet, he was not ever satisfied with his personal walk and growth in the Lord.
Paul was always aware of his need to go deeper in his walk with the Lord, and he never permitted himself to become content with his spiritual attainments.
Paul’s salvation was not just an experience of the moment.
Many people think you can just go down some church isle to the altar and have an experience with the Lord, be carried to new heights and see some vision, and that’s it.
But it’s not just for a moment!
Your Christianity is for a lifetime; daily walking in dependence upon the Lord.
As a Christian, we must learn that our standard is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must never be satisfied until we have become like Him, attaining the likeness of His own resurrection from the dead.
In order to have a winning Christian attitude, we must also live a life of direction and devotion.
The Apostle Paul was devoted to one thing, and that one thing was serving Christ.
Satan’s deadliest trick for keeping you and I from doing what God wants us to do is to distract us by getting us to do many “good church things.”
We as Christians, and we as a body of believers, the church, must have a new direction, moving us forward in our faith and not concentrating upon our past unless the past is the key to our future spiritual growth.
After becoming a Christian, the Apostle Paul only looked back to see the things he had accomplished or suffered for Christ.
So, it’s good sometime to look back into the past, because the past keeps us focused upon what we might expect in the future.
But if you want to be a winner in the spiritual race of life you have to keep growing in the right direction and don’t waste valuable time fretting over the past.
The Apostle Paul said he was “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (verse 13).
So, a winning Christian attitude means that you don’t rest on your past accomplishments and achievements, but you build upon them as you look forward into the future!
That brings us to the winning Christian attitudes of determination and discipline.
Paul said “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (verse 14).
Your faith, as Paul’s faith, moves you and I into a new motivation of Christlike works.
James wrote, “Faith without works is a dead faith.”
This new motivation is an energy that I cannot fully describe; for it’s an energy out of this world, derived from the Holy Spirit, and because we know Christ and His work of redemption in our lives, we will engage our attention to Him for eternity!
A winning athlete doesn’t win the race by listening to a lecture about how to win the race.
A winning athlete doesn’t win the race by watching a movie, or reading a book about how to win the race.
He or she wins the race by getting into the race with a disciplined determination to win.
If you want to be a winner in the race of Christianity, you must have a spirit of disciplined determination, putting life energy and effort into what you’re doing for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you have that winning Christian attitude this morning?
If not, could it be that God’s Holy Spirit is trying to get you back into the race for God?
If you have placed your faith and trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can leave here this morning with the confidence and assurance of knowing that you can have a winning Christian attitude and nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We present our invitation and pray you will respond to it as we stand and sing together our hymn of personal decision.
Rev. Jimmy Davis
Bayview Baptist Church
5300 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29204
Email: BayviewBaptist@aol.com
Telephone: 803-754-8690
