Two Models Of Living Series

Two Model of Living one’s Life

Philippians 3:17-21

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

To live one’s life worthy of the Gospel of Christ is far from an easy task! Though the believer has passed from death to life and is now sealed by the Holy Spirit does not mean one has arrived at spiritual perfection! Even though as a believer we can say “NO” to sin this does not mean that we have become sinless. We have the mind of Christ and participate in the divine nature yet find the lure of earthly pleasures of this world often leads us down many paths that do not honor Christ, our Lord, Savior, and King! To make matters worse believers are near so many contradictory points of view from both the saved and unsaved that ascertaining the truth is near impossible to determine in the sea of “grey” in which we live! So, to learn how to be holy as God is holy, we courageously open our Bibles and invite the Spirit to show us the giant motes in our eyes that are keeping us from seeing and obeying our Lord! And yet while God’s word is not difficult to understand, after all the Spirit of truth lives inside of us, it certainly is difficult to head the words of James; do not be hearers of the word but doers (1:22-25)! As human beings we have the tendency to imitate the words and deeds of others when doing so gives us pleasure. While it is easier to imitate those on the broad path where all choices are acceptable; surely there are believers around us that shine like stars in the sky because they have learned how to take God’s Road map to holy living, the Bible, and put it into action for His honor and glory, that we can imitate! In today’s passage in Philippians 3:17-21 Apostle Paul states the key to holy living is found in imitating the words and deeds of other Christians but only to the extent that their lives personify Christ! To accomplish this our mindset must be on our citizenship being in heaven and the eager expectation of the Lord who will one day give us glorious bodies that will at last be like Him. As we go through today’s passage ask yourself if you are an example of Christlikeness to be emulated by others or an enemy of the cross to be avoided because your glory is being found in your shame?

Nothing but the Gospel

Successfully running to win the prize of living a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ requires one to have the right mindset. No matter how successful the believer is at proclaiming the Gospel message (1:5), seeking unity in the Spirit (2:1), and suffering for Christ’s names sake when asked (3:10); one must never become so arrogant that one foolishly believes one has arrived at perfection (3:15)! Even if one forgets what is behind and gives all the honor and glory for one’s current successes to the Lord (3:13-14), the mature in Christ know full well that they have indeed not reached the pinnacle of “spiritual attainment.” The truth is that even though God promises the believer if we draw nearer to Him He will draw nearer to us (James 4:8), we tend to get weary on His race track and often wander away! Considering the intense persecution, the Philippians faced and the lure of the Greco-Roman culture that placed such high value on self-indulgences; some of the Philippians were starting to fall away from living the Gospel message (3:16). While we don’t know specifically what Paul meant by those who “at some point you think differently” there are several likely meanings. First, there were false teachers such as the Judaizers who were preaching inclusion into the kingdom of God was through circumcision and the keeping of the law (3:1-4). Second, “perhaps some Philippians were experiencing a loss of confidence in God’s promises for the future, as was the case in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:12—‘How can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?’). Third, since Paul talked a lot about unity it is likely that there were disagreements over how to live a life worthy of the Gospel. To combat the tendency to wander away Paul told the told the Philippians they should be “open-minded and teachable” by God who would reveal His truth to them. Like the Galatians they were to be “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) and be “confident that He who began a good work in them would carry it on to completion” (1:6). If we are to run the race and honor God we simply must run in His way with our eyes fixed on the Son who bought our atonement at the price of His very life. Should not our life song be to “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace!”