Southern Hills Baptist Church
January 19th 2003
“The Tears of an Apostle”
Philippians 3: 18-21
By Pastor Mark Hensley
“For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control; will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3: 18-21
Introduction: University of Iowa professor Tom Lutz in his book Crying: the Natural & Cultural History of Tears wrote that “Crying is a form of catharsis, of “letting it all out.” Although people will tell you that they feel better after they’ve had a good cry, tests in the psychology lab show something a little different. Studies of weepers have found that the tears start flowing after people have already experienced an emotional release, Lutz says.
That means that tears don’t release our emotions, but rather redirect them. Tears give us a physical outlet for what we’re feeling, shifting attention from our thoughts to our bodies. Lutz compares it to Alice in Wonderland, floating away in a deluge of her own tears.
Randolph Cornelius, a social psychologist at Vassar College, agrees that tears aren’t the cathartic force most people assume they are. His research has shown that whether we feel better after crying depends in large part on how others around us reacted to our tears. If tears of anger escalated an argument, we feel worse. If tears of sadness brought consolation, we feel better.
We have all heard that Men don’t cry. Worldwide, women do cry more than men. But the difference isn’t as huge as you might think. Citing figures from an international study, Cornelius says that men in the United States said they cried 1.88 times a month, while U.S. women cried 3.55 times. Bulgarian men are the least weepy, crying only .43 times a month. By Claudine Chamberlain
Why do we cry? Because we’re sad, or because we’re happy? When we’re calm, or when we’re stressed? Because we want to,
or because we can’t help it? Why do we cry, when we fall and when our feelings are hurt?
Why do we cry, when someone dies, and when someone lives?
Why do we cry, when someone else is happy, and when someone else is sad? Why do we cry, when we don’t know the reason why?
We cry because we have to... its part of who we are.
Transitional thought: The Apostle Paul cried! It’s important that we understand the emotional and spiritual stresses that brought him tears. In doing so we can understand what should cause our own concern, and tears!
“The Tears of an Apostle” Philippians 3: 18-21 “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control; will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Believers cry when:
When people refuse the love of Christ
When the pursuit of material things becomes one’s primary objective.
We cry, because we are homesick!
I. When people refuse the love of Christ “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.”
We can’t be sure whether the people Paul has in mind are pagans, or liberal Christians who use the grace and forgiveness of God as an excuse to sin. But from the description that follows, they may have been people at Philippi who had left the way of the cross for other attractions and enticements. "Their mind is on earthly things" – the enemies of the cross of Christ are those who have abandoned the heavenly race and despised the heavenly prize in favor of pursuits and prizes that are exclusively worldly.
We face the continued pressure of conforming to this world. We must understand that “Enemies of the Cross” will always pressure us to not be so serious about our faith, to loosen up to not be so assertive or dogmatic about our commitment to the Lord!
Rather than choosing an easy smooth path of least resistance, our hearts should break and tears fill our eyes when people would rather choose anything and anyone but the Lord!
When was the last time you personally cried, because you knew someone in your life has yet to receive Christ, could be a neighbor a boss an employee or the everyday people we meet in this life? Are we like Paul concerned…to the point of tears?
“For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.”
A little girl who was late coming home for supper. Her mother made the expected irate parent’s demand to know where she had been.
The little girl replied that she had stopped to help Janie, whose bicycle was broken in a fall. "But you don’t know anything about fixing bicycles," her mother responded. "I know that," the girl said. "I just stopped to help her cry." Found at After-hours Inspirational Stories
Believers cry when:
When people refuse the love of Christ
II. When the pursuit of material things becomes one’s primary objective. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
First, "" their god is their stomach - they are self-indulgent, focusing on themselves and whatever pleases them.
Note, however, that Paul does not say what these self-indulgent pleasures are. They could well differ from person to person, but for everyone guilty of self-indulgence there is the underlying sin of selfishness.
The second characteristic of enemies of the cross is that of their reversal of moral standards – “and their glory is in their shame”. These people have a topsy-turvy kind of logic, in which they do what is wrong, but call it right. Years earlier, the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had the following to say about these people:
Isaiah 5:20
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
Such people do not follow the standards of God’s Word, as found in His holy law. They do not sing, as the writer of psalm 119: 4 sings, “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed” Instead, they break the law, and refuse to admit guilt.
A final characteristic of enemies of the cross is that such people “Their mind is on earthly things. For some of us life often seems an unfinished puzzle, a conundrum, a series of hit-and-miss actions and random interactions, and there seems to be little direction and purpose to our lives. For others, life is a breeze and everything seems to fall into place with perfect timing and excellent results. But you can spend your life climbing the ladder of success only to reach the top and find the ladder resting against the wrong wall. From the Sermon REACHING THE GOAL Philippians 3:17-21 by Rod Benson
Rather than focusing on God (and on heavenly things), enemies of the cross center on themselves and what is happening in their little world. The Kingdom of God and all that this involves is not important to them.
Enemies of the cross, then, selfishly and arrogantly break God’s law; they center on themselves, rather than on God. Why, though, do we call them "enemies of the cross"?
It is important to note that, in essence, everyone is an enemy of the cross. All of us are, by nature, such wretched sinners that, no matter how hard we tried, we’d never be able to reconcile ourselves with God. Jesus died to rescue Enemies of the cross, however, those that have not been reconciled with God; they remain in their sins.
Do we weep for them?
“For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
Do we weep for them, our tears the emotional release of a passionate desire that they too might know him? Are we a church that loves like that?
Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community. In Chicago a few years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school I know of. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home.
"They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because they love a fellow over there," he replied.
If only we could make the world believe that we loved them there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, and the world will soon be evangelized. Moody’s Anecdotes, pp. 71-72.
Believers cry when:
When people refuse the love of Christ
When the pursuit of material things becomes one’s primary objective.
III. We cry, because we are homesick! “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control; will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Ever felt homesick? Longed for the company of family and friends? Of course you have! I picture Paul blinking through his tears, the tears that longed for people to embrace Jesus as Lord, rather than to remain enemies, the Tears that expressed the Apostles fervent desire that people understand that purpose comes from a relationship with the Lord, not the things we own or that seem so important to possess. Only to find that many times what we want to possess, possesses us!
I see him shackled to roman guard, looking around the area of his confinement…his mind, His soul, His heart are free, and he thinks of home…not Tarsus the city of Paul’s youth a city that was on the southern coast of what is now known as Turkey.
Tarsus was a significant city. It was the Roman provincial capital and an intellectual center. It was very Greek in nature, meaning Paul spoke Greek (among other languages), and he was familiar with Greek customs, literature, philosophy, etc.
That’s not the Home that’s on his mind; no it’s the place that enables each of us to see tears as the necessary result of caring… a homeland that awaits every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ!
20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control; will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
We cannot visualize heaven’s life and the wise man will not try to do so. Instead he will dwell on the doctrine of heaven, where the redeemed will find all their heart’s desire: joy with their Lord, joy with his people, and joy in the ending of all frustration and distress and in the supply of all wants. What was said to the child -- "If you want sweets and hamsters in heaven, they’ll be there" -- was not an evasion but a witness to the truth that in heaven no felt needs or longings go unsatisfied. What our wants will actually be, however, we hardly know, except the first and foremost: we shall want to be "always...with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17).
What shall we do in heaven? Not lounge around but worship, work, think, and communicate, enjoying activity, beauty, people, and God. First and foremost, however, we shall see and love Jesus, our Savior, Master, and Friend. To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us. James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.
Believers cry when:
When people refuse the love of Christ
When the pursuit of material things becomes one’s primary objective.
We cry, because we are homesick!
