How to Find the Right Balance
(Philippians 3:15-21)
1. Mr. Alvin Verette of New Roads, Louisiana, owns and operates the nation’s first drive-in Funeral Home. For the convenience of time-pressed mourners, the deceased is displayed before a five-by-seven foot picture window. Friends and relatives can drive up to the window and pay their last respects without getting out. Mr. Verette says, "We wanted something for people who didn’t have time to dress for the occasion." (sermoncenral)
2. When you hear stories like this, you conclude, "people are TOO busy."
3. For many, their life’s motto is the old Schlitz beer commercials, "You only go around once in life, so you may as well get all the gusto you can."
4. But the gusto seekers are like people crawling out of Ryan’s steakhouse moaning, "I ate too much. I can’t control myself." More is not always better. We need balance.
5. This is even more true for the Christian who must not only balance this life, but must also balance his responsibilities to two kingdoms. It’s tough.
Main idea: The ideal Christian life is a balanced life.
But how can we attain that balance? Our text can be divided into several steps that lead us toward a balanced mentality.
I. Step One: Allow People ROOM to Disagree (15-16)
A. Paul realized some people are not as MATURE as others (15)
B. He recognized that even mature believers might disagree on finer points (16)
• David Guzik comments, "Paul has great trust in the ability of the Lord to deal with His own people. He doesn’t have the attitude that if he doesn’t convince them, they will never be convinced."
• Paul plays the authority card only when important
C. We should not lose ground fighting over minor things over which we disagree (17)
• Many of us have a conviction or two that is out of the mainstream; I am not passing judgment as to whether that is right or wrong; but we can get along with our differences if it is in a non-essential area and if we do not make an agenda from it.
• What happens is that people make a big deal out of their viewpoint, and this causes conflict and results in some Christians becoming totally disenchanted with the church of Jesus Christ.
D. Balanced people expect some FLEXIBILITY, not complete CONFORMITY
The ideal Christian life is a balanced life.
II. Step Two: SELECT and Imitate the Genuinely Balanced (17)
A. Paul was not into PROTOCOL or false humility, which is PRIDE in disguise (17a)
1. We must fight what I call the "Christian handicap"
2. Decent lost people tactfully share what they are thinking, but Christians have learned that fellow believers will pounce on them if they are honest
• what we are not allowed to say: I have feelings of hatred, I’m worried, I wish he would go jump in a lake, good luck, I felt like strangling him
• so we experience those feelings but learn to deny them both to others and ourselves
• same is true with admitting a strength; that becomes arrogance; if I say I am good at table hockey, I have committed a sin of arrogance, according to some; but what IF I AM GOOD and KNOW IT? Wouldn’t saying, "I’m not so good at it" therefore be a lie? Bragging involves either lingering on the subject or exalting our worth above others…
B. You must KNOW your potential mentors well (17b)
--so that you can "take note"
C. When selecting folks to imitate, choose SEVERAL (17c)
The ideal Christian life is a balanced life. If you make the genuinely balanced your role models, you are more likely to be balanced yourself. But remember: the greatest successes in one area are often miserable failures in others; choose balance.
III. Step Three: Know Whose Example To AVOID (18-19)
A. Recognize that many who claim to serve Christ are His ENEMIES (18)
1. Many of us are raised to reverence all religious leaders
2. But we must also realize that many religious people are enemies of the Gospel…
3. To just call them misguided is to be kinder than Paul; some are misguided, but most are simply enemies…there is an element of evil, not just naiveté, involved
4. Model yourself after individuals who are solid in both doctrine and lifestyle
5. That was one point I did not like about Rick Warren’s "Purpose Driven Life;" he quoted and used used examples from people like Ghandi or Mother Theresa; true, he did not endorse their beliefs, but many readers will think he has…
B. Besides the "dogs" or 3:2 (legalists), we need to beware of the LAWLESS (19)
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position." 2 Peter 3:17
1. Their destiny: destruction
2. Their god: their own appetites
"I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people." Romans 16:17-18
3. Their glory: shameful behavior
4. Their focus: earthly things
The ideal Christian life is a balanced life. If you imitate those whose beliefs and lifestyles are not in the way of truth, you will begin to devalue truth.
IV. Step Four: Choose to Be Conscious of Your DESTINY (20-21)
A. Our primary citizenship is in HEAVEN (20a)
1. We have lost our emphasis on being citizens of heaven
• Christians have lost this simple dynamic. It is sort of like this illustration:
• In one picture of the “modern” kitchen equipment of the 1950s there is a single pan on a gas stove, a spoon and a knife and a hand mixer. On the table was a typical Sunday dinner of roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, salad, two vegetables, homemade rolls and an apple pie.
• Another picture showed the standard equipment of a kitchen of today. There was a food processor, bread maker, pasta maker, juicer, rice steamer, Ginsu knife system and a 20-piece cookware set. But what was the typical Sunday dinner that was shown? Microwave pizza. (James May, Sermoncentral)
• Christians now have all sorts of tools: books on computer, internet sources, Bible tapes and CD’s, a zillion translations
• But it is as C.S. Lewis once said, "The more the Bible is translated, the less it is read."
• We’ve gone from a healthy spiritual meal to quick junk food
• We are rightly trying to prevent our nation from going into further moral decay, but we live as though this life were all there is…
2. Being a citizen of heaven implies several truths
(1) we have a value system different from mainstream society
(2) we have theological beliefs that differ from common folk religion
(3) we understand that creation is created, not a result of impersonal chance
(4) we understand that just laws are derived from the nature of God
(5) we are willing to be different when necessary
(6) our priorities are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
(7) we view ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ
(8) we are civically and community minded, but our earthly citizenship is second to our heavenly; we put the cross ahead of the flag
3. So here we are, balancing life between two kingdoms. And we have to choose which one will be the priority, which kingdom will we love more dearly.
B. Our anticipation is Christ’s RETURN (20b)
• I sense in Paul an anticipation of Christ’s coming to the effect that it could happen at any time
• I believe that Jesus could come right now….or a thousand years from today…
C. Our destiny is TRANSFORMATION (21)
• But the emphasis of our eager expectation of Christ’s coming is what will follow: our transformation…
• The more unhealthy you are, the more you will appreciate this transformation…
• On TV, I saw footage of the 50th reunion of Civil War vets (1915) and then the 75th (1940); the 1940 reunion was a lot smaller, and you could see these men, all in their 90’s, stooped on their canes, with ear horns, shaking hands.
The ideal Christian life is a balanced life. If you live with an eternal perspective, rather than an immediate one, you have a much better shot at a balanced life.
CONCLUSION
Balance is what it is all about. Take the example of john D. Rockefeller. He achieved what our culture calls success. Rockefeller had amassed more wealth than he could ever spend.
By the time Rockefeller was fifty-three his life was a wreck. Throughout his business career he said, “I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.” He was the richest man in the world and yet he was miserable in every sense of the word. He was sick physically, mentally, and emotionally. There was no humor, balance, or joy in his life.
Then a transformation occurred. He determined to become a giver rather than an accumulator. He began to give his millions away. He founded the Rockefeller Foundation, dedicated to fighting disease and ignorance around the world. He lived to be ninety-eight years old and was a happy man in those years because of his new and revitalized definition of success.
Glenn Van Ekeren, The Speaker’s Sourcebook II, pp. 354-355
