CRCF””5-30-10
Flying Without a Net
Philippians 3:1-14
Ronnie McBrayer
Henri Nouwen traveled with the “Flying Rodleighs” for a time, drawing more than one spiritual lesson from the lives they lived. He said, like a high-flying trapeze artist, we must let go of the security we have had, to take hold of what is coming to us. And like a trapeze artist, we cannot do both at the same time.
Follow this line of thought. In the moment that a trapeze artist moves from one trapeze bar to the next, she must leave the relative security of holding on to something solid, something that has her confidence, and keeps her from falling. Then she must stretch out for the bar that is coming to her. In those milliseconds, which probably seem like an eternity, she is hanging there in mid-air, with nothing. She cannot go back to the security she has known. Nor can he speed the next trapeze bar to her. It is an act of faith.
The life of following and knowing Christ is lived in those moments between the trapeze bars. We cannot go back to our former lives, the way we used to believe, think, and live. We let those things go in order to follow Christ. But have we yet taken hold of Christ? No, we have not. As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3, “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on.”
Faith is not the game of playing it safe. Faith is living without a net. Not because we love the adrenaline rush, but because we can”™t go with Christ and stay where we are at the same time.
Following Jesus means believing that the only thing that counts is knowing Him!
Philippians 3:1-14 (NLT)
1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin””a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God”™s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
12 I don”™t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Following Jesus means believing that the only thing that counts is knowing Him!
John Piper:
What Paul is doing here is showing how the teaching of Jesus is to be lived out. For example, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). Becoming a Christian means discovering that Christ (the King) is a Treasure Chest of holy joy and writing “LOSS” over everything else in the world in order to gain him. “He sold all that he had to buy that field.”
Or again in Luke 14:33 Jesus said, “No one of you can be my disciple who does not take leave of all his own possessions.” In other words, becoming a disciple of Jesus means writing “LOSS” in big red letters over all your possessions””and everything else this world offers.
Following Jesus means believing that the only thing that counts is knowing Him!
1. True Confession
12 I don”™t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection . . . 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it . . . (12a, 13a)
We will never fully know Jesus in this life!
John Piper:
One of the very best indicators of the reality and depth and vitality of your relationship with Christ and mine is the issue of what we are content with and what we are discontent with in our lives. Be content with the gifts God has given you. Be discontent with the current state of your spiritual life.
Don”™t pretend to have it all figured out! Don”™t fake it in following Christ! Make the true confession and have a holy discontent in your relationship with Jesus!
BUT, then give it all you”™ve got to live with . . .
2. Total Concentration
I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (13c)
We must live without distraction and with focus!
Focus on WHAT? Knowing Christ!
Philippians 3:10-11 (MSG)
10-11I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
Piper:
I reach for him because I am held by him. I press into him because he has enclosed me with unbreakable bands of love.
a) Forget the Foolishness of the Past
Wilson: The competitor who is always looking back over his shoulder will never win that race. Many Christians are paralyzed by past failures or have become so complacent with past successes that they have virtually stopped running the race.
b) Focus By Faith on the Future
“stretching out and straining forward”
Piper:
Paul treasures Christ above all things because only in Christ does he have a righteousness that counts with God. So he is eager to walk the very path that led Christ to glory””the path of suffering with him. Being with Christ in the end will be worth any price of suffering here.
Following Jesus means believing that the only thing that counts is knowing Him!
And then, with such total concentration, Paul says we must also live with a . . .
3. Thorough Commitment
But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me . . . 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (12b, 14)
What does it mean to “press on” to reach the prize?
Paul has already told us . . .
Philippians 3:7-9 (MSG)
7-9The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash””along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant””dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ””God’s righteousness
Piper:
If when you become a Christian you write a big red “LOSS” across all the things in the world except Christ, then when Christ calls you to forfeit some of those things, it is not strange or unexpected. The pain and the sorrow may be great. The tears may be many, as they were for Jesus in Gethsemane. But we will be prepared. We will know that the value of Christ surpasses all the things the world can offer and that in losing them we gain more of Christ.
Following Jesus means believing that the only thing that counts is knowing Him!
Conclusion””
Run the straight race through God”™s good grace,
Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;
Life with its path before us lies;
Christ is the way, and Christ is the prize.
(J.S.B. Monsell)
Piper:
Now what does that mean practically? I think it means four things:
1. It means that whenever I am called upon to choose between anything in this world and Christ, I choose Christ.
2. It means that I will deal with the things of this world in ways that draw me nearer to Christ so that I gain more of Christ and enjoy more of him by the way I use the world.
3. It means that I will always deal with the things of this world in ways that show that they are not my treasure, but rather show that Christ is my treasure.
4. It means that if I lose any or all the things this world can offer, I will not lose my joy or my treasure or my life, because Christ is all.
Following Jesus means believing that the only thing that counts is knowing Him!