Grand Parkway Baptist Church
Grand Parkway Baptist Church
The One Thing That Is Really Important In Life | Philippians 3:12-21 | Pastor Blake Hardcastle
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Blake Hardcastle, Equipping Pastor
Grand Parkway Baptist Church
The One Thing That Is Really Important In Life
Philippians 3:12-21
1. Everyone is in assembly v12-13
2. Put on the Press v.13-14
A. Forget past failures.
B. Forget your past achievements:
C. Strain forward v.13
D. Remember your “why?”v.12
3. Follow Worthy Examples v. 15-19
A. Get an example to follow v.17
B. Be an example to follow v.17
Proverbs 13:20
C. Grieve unworthy examples: v.18-19
• Their end is destruction
• Their god is their belly
• Their glory is their shame
• Their minds set on earthly things
4. Remember the Promise v.20-21
A. Remember how long eternity is.
B. Remember what will happen.
Mental worship
1. Who do you need to have new hope for because they are still in assembly?
2. What can you address (press on) that will dramatically affect the quality of your life?
3. Who do you grieve because they are wasting their life on the wrong goal?
4. If you were going to follow someone, who would you ask?
5. Where do you turn when you are bored?
Be sure to follow us:
Here's what I tell you, what he says. You don't need information, you need revelation. Those of you who say, Yes, knowing Christ is the most important thing, the only reason you think that is God has changed your mind to agree with it. The only reason you adhere to that is because he has done something in you to agree with him. Yet that's this is true, this is reality. And so my question for you do you leave room for revelation with those who they're off the mark? They've got divided allegiances. Yes, Christ, but something else. Do you really leave room for revelation? Or do you think it's your job to uh convince them? Do you think it's your job to change minds? And so if your kids don't value knowing Christ above all, do you leave room for revelation? Or do you insert yourself as their personal apologist? See, what they need is revelation. They don't need more arguments from you. Because if revelation happens, no other words make a difference.
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SPEAKER_00Amen. Let's pray together. Yes, Lord, you uh you are everything because you are everything. And other things impersonate you. They try to. Our flesh tries to substitute for you, but it doesn't compare. And when you give an eyes to see and ears to hear, is lock on. That you are the answer to all my questions. And so this morning, uh what we just sung, may this be echoed in your word. Holy Spirit, may you set our hearts on the thing that's most important. And may we joyfully, gleefully just look around saying, Can you believe I get to do this? Can you believe I get to experience this? Recalibrate our hearts. So that's reality and truth. That the most we achieve is worshiping at your feet. We've achieved everything. Holy Spirit, move us to continue as we hear your word to worship you now. Amen. Please be seated. I want to introduce myself to you. You may not recognize me. My name is Blake Hardcastle. I'm your equipping pastor. I've uh been away on what's called sabbatical, which every seven years uh our elders uh have our pastor, our full-time staff uh retreat for about eight weeks. It allows us to uh refresh and revive in you. And I'll tell you a couple stories later. Uh, some of it is you begin to deal with stuff you've been putting off and didn't know you were putting off. Uh, this morning's text, uh, what I want to talk to you about this morning, what the text talks about, is is the one thing that's really important in life. And here's a spoiler alert: the one thing that's really important in life is knowing Christ. That's the one thing. Uh, everything else is not a close second, even. Everything else uh uh tries and attempts to, but but the one thing that's really important, and so let me illustrate it this way. If you've ever, I don't know, maybe it probably hasn't happened to you. Uh this is probably just a one-off for me, but if you ever put in your phone the address to something and and then um you didn't realize that more than one place has that address. So for example, if you put in 21006 Winston Ranch Court and you don't specify Richmond, Texas, you may be going to Iowa. You can look it up later. Uh look it up. Hey, what other places have my address? I promise you, you're not that unique. Uh and so if you put the wrong address in, you will go to the wrong spot. This may have happened to you. If you ever like use the app on your phone to order food, and um and you arrive at the place, and then you get there and you give them your name, and they go, we don't have your order. And you first think, What's wrong with you people? I mean, do I have to? And then you realize, oh, hold on, let me check. And then you say something like, where is the pair land location exactly? Is that how far away is that? And you realize you've made the mistake. Uh, it's one thing if if you've messed up your Chipotle order, it's another is if you're if you the course of your life is veered off track. And and you either knowing you're unlowing have begun to chase after something which isn't everything. Today's text, what Paul does for us is say, hey, let's recalibrate, let's get on track with here's the thing that's most important. So let me read it for us this morning, and then we'll we'll see four things from four observations from the text. Not that I've already, it says Philippians 3, 20, 12 to 21. Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus made me his own. So, brothers, I don't consider that I've made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of Christ Jesus. So let those who are mature think this way. And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that to you also. Only let us hold true to what we have obtained. So, brothers, join me, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many I have told you and now tell you with tears, they walk as enemies of the cross, and their end is destruction, and the God, either God is their belly, their glory and their shame, and their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, and by the power of that enables him to subject all things to himself. So four things we're gonna observe from the text today. The first one is this everyone is in assembly. Everyone is being assembled, no one is done, no one is complete. And what I mean by that, we see here Paul says he's not already obtained or not already perfect, or in the first verse, uh, not obtained this, uh, or it. He's referring a couple verses earlier in the chapter where he is is uh writing and saying that to know Christ and to share in his sufferings and the power of his resurrection, this is his ultimate goal. And so Paul's saying, I I've I don't fully know Christ yet. And we think he's probably saying this because some of them saying, uh, you you can have arrived in your faith, you can have reached a uh a point of perfection where you're you're finished. Paul said, I'm not finished, this isn't happened for me. What would you see is everyone is in assembly. And so one thing you should take away from that is uh if you feel like I I got a lot more growing to do. I am there's this can't be all God wants to do and change in me. Because there's a whole bunch, there's a whole bunch more missing. Then you're feeling yourself correctly. You should feel like you're not done yet. If you're still breathing, he's he's not done with you yet. He's not done changing you. This this well, let me say it this way too. The person talking to you now is in assembly. All your staff, all your pastors are in assembly. That that should do a couple things to you. That should one, that that should uh you should be amazed at God. Like, I can't believe God does that through them. Can you make can you imagine how awesome God is? He uses these imperfect people. Uh, this brings up the doctrine of sanctification. So sanctification is a seminary word for the person who uh they are thinking and acting more like Christ. And as a person matures, what they think and how they live more and more conforms to the character of Christ. This is a work of the spirit, and it just happens. Sometimes through hardship, sometimes through blessing, but God is shaping the person more and more. And so a person who's mature in Christ, it's not that they do a whole bunch less sinning, it's just that sins less of who they are. It doesn't characterize them as much. They haven't arrived at perfection. In fact, the person who is growing in Christ, they begin to see, oh, my sin, it's way down deep. I I've kind of stopped doing the surface level stuff, but there's things down in me that I feel that's still there. And so, sanctification, this begins at the moment someone's saved. And so you saw Tenny get dunked. The moment he was saved, the moment he was made alive in Christ, sanctification began. And it will continue all the way until he dies, and then it will he'll be changed, perfected in Christ. And so, so what? Okay, Blake, everyone's in assembly, what should we think about this? One is uh we should engage others more humbly than we do, we should be more humble how we engage other people, especially believers. Because even when you are pretty certain that you're right, if you if you remember that you're not fully assembled, then you'll remember I don't see things perfectly. I don't think perfectly, I don't feel perfectly. I'm pretty certain about this, but because I'm not arrived, then I'm not heavy-handed. I can leave room for the Holy Spirit to be engaged here. I can still truth and love, but it but it doesn't have to be over the top, it doesn't have to be um punitive. The other is that we can always have hope. If someone is in Christ, they're not done. And so there's a brother and sister in Christ that uh maybe you just think, I guess that's all the groan they're gonna be. That's not what this text says. No one's fully as no one's reached the end of what they're gonna be. So there's always hope that God can change. Let me ask you, is there anyone you've given up hope that God's gonna change them? Is there any brother and sister in Christ that you've just said, I guess that's as good as it gets. That's as growing, they're always gonna be this way. The doctrine of sanctification says, no. The rate of change can that can be different. Someone can can be growing really quick, or can slow down and maybe walking, or maybe it gets super slow that they're just curled up in a ball on the floor, but the but their face, their heart is Jesus, I need your help. Uh the trajectory is still the same, the same goal, the same goal. Uh, is there anyone you've given up on? Or maybe ask you even this have you given up on yourself? Have you given up and said, I guess this is just as much as God's gonna do in me? This text says that's not the case. Everyone is still in assembly. And and the phrase, nobody's perfect, this is one of the places it comes from. Nobody's perfect, only Jesus is perfect, no one's perfect. That is not an excuse to give up. Paul's not saying, hey, no one's perfect, so hey, why even try? You know, I'll see you after work at happy hour. Let's just, you know, hang out. Uh no one's perfect, it's not excuse to give up, and it's not a not a pass to just stay the way you are. Here's the second thing we see in the text. This is verse 13 and 14. Paul, uh, my words are put on the press. Put on the press. Yeah, where Paul says uh in in verse 12, I but I press on to make it my own. And then down in in verse uh 14, I press toward the goal. I want you to think about press like in basketball. So, basketball, you got an offense and a defense, and sometimes a defense will run a strategy called a press. Usually after a make of a basket, and so presses, uh you're gonna hassle and harass. In fact, I have a definition, I'm gonna give it to you. Uh it's an aggressive defensive strategy where the defense applies heavy pressure to the offensive team to force turnovers, deny passes, and disrupt the timing. And so when Paul says put on, I press on, I want you to think about it that way. Don't start thinking, oh, this is just try-harder Christianity. That's not what he's saying. Uh it's a defensive strategy. If we if we're on a team, we're gonna put on the press and we just run around like mad people, it's not gonna last very long and it's not gonna work. See, a defensive press has a technical strategy where, okay, we're gonna we're gonna pressure the ball here, we want them to pass this side. When they do, okay, we're gonna do this, we want them to pass here. And when they pass here, ooh, now we got them. Which we're trying to strategize where we want. And so put on the press is is not just some, just try harder and hopefully you get better and get more assembled. In fact, Paul gives us uh the strategy for it, and it's kind of confusing in English. He says, brothers, I've made it my own. This is verse 13. He says, but one thing I do, and then he talks about two things. He says, one thing I do, I'm forgetting what lies behind and straining the lies ahead. And you can think, hey, can you count, buddy? This is two things. Uh he he he can't help himself. Uh he's explaining how he does the one thing. Because the one thing is verse 14. The one thing he does is he presses on toward the goal for the prize. The prize is knowing Christ. Not just knowing about him, not just knowing facts, but a real relationship. A conversational experience with God. One to where where the world might think, are you a little schizophrenic? Because you're believing things and you think you're hearing things. And we know that can't be true. I'm saying knowing him. Not just as something you're gonna meet someday, but someone you engage with with some regularity. So Paul says, this is the one thing he does. Now, how he does it. Here's a strategy. So I have some points here. Uh, when he forgets what lies behind, there's two things in forgetting. One is forgetting your past failures. So Paul's big past failure, I mean, I had plenty, he's a human. Big past failure is he was a persecutor of the church, meaning um he wanted to stop and punish anyone who was part of this new thing called Christianity. And he was glad to punish them. Like, we got we have to kill some. We're jailing all of them. And so he's a persecutor. And then God, in his mercy, without Paul's permission, without an invitation, uh, confronts him, speaks to him his Hebrew name, calls him Saul, and in his mercy, he claims him. So Paul says, I forget what lies behind. Part of his forgetting is, yeah, I used to be a killer of the people of the church. And I forget that that's what I was before God rescued me. Before he said, You're mine. Also, you forget your past achievements. So forget your past failures. Uh, you go, okay, the old me couldn't do this, but the new me can walk in righteousness. Forgetting your past achievements is kind of the opposite of that, where uh sometimes if you've been a believer for a little while or you've grown some, uh, you can begin to coast on like the vapors of your previous experience. Uh, I'll tell you what this looks like. What this has looked like for me is every now and then I'll get in a relationship with a guy where I'm discipling him. And um uh especially if it's really growing, then I'll introduce, hey, why don't you try memorizing scripture? Because uh there's just no easy way to do it, it's just work, it's just hard. And and then I'll know the first time that this guy, a guy's memorized scripture, I'll know because he's like, hey, so you're gonna ask me about my memory verse today? I'm like, okay, okay, yes, wave your hand, I'll pick on you. And so he'll say it, and then this almost always, even I know it's almost always happens. I I just I don't prep I coast. He'll say something like this okay, so what's your verse? Would you memorize? Yeah, and I gotta say, yeah, I didn't memorize anything. Why not? Well, I mean, I've memorized a whole bunch in the past. I mean, there's only so many verses. I mean, you know, you can't memorize them all. No one's perfect. Uh the gospel does not give me permission to stop memorizing. Look, don't email, don't ask me, hey, what'd you memorize this week? Okay, this illustration, I'm convicted. All right, you don't want me asking you. Uh how about we all memorize something this week? Uh, but the gospel didn't give us permission to co spiritually. Your past, your past change and assembly does not let you off the hook just just stop. Paul said, press on. And so what this means is I we agree with what God says about our past, and we agree with what he says about our future, and so that motivates us and directs us for how to live right now in the present. A third thing in this put on the press is he says, uh, this verse 13. Uh, so I forget what's behind, and then I strain forward to what's ahead. And so straining forward, this is like if you can be remember a season or time in your life where, oh man, I was really growing. I can remember uh when I was a sophomore in college, I just I I wanted I wanted to know the Bible. And um, and so I uh I would sit in my car, uh I commuted to college, sit in my car, and um I I would read. I also wouldn't pay the meter, I'd wait until the cop came by. Oh, okay, make it that meter. So I was, you know, I thought I was saving myself 50 cents by reading. But but uh my goal was okay, I'm gonna try and read the whole thing this year. And uh it was it was thrilling and fervent, but there are seasons where I feel like I've grew a lot. And so straining forward is if you can remember a time where where I was really growing at a good pace then. Straining forward is it's doing focused effort to make that your reality now. Doesn't mean you do the same thing, but I'm gonna give some focused effort to experience what I experienced before. This kind of bigger growth. Uh I mentioned I was on sabbatical. Uh yeah, you you want to know what sabbatical is like? You want to know, Lou? Yes, please tell us about your eight-week vacation. Go ahead. Yes. Uh I mean, some of it was really enjoyable. Some ways I I was surprised by the stuff God made me deal with. And maybe you've experienced this, maybe you have it. If you haven't, you might not be wanting a sabbatical. Uh sometimes when life slows down, there's things that you've been letting trail behind you that catch up to you. It's kind of like this: it's as if you had, let's say you have long hair, like down to your waist hair, and you're swimming. Okay, you're swimming, and the hair is just trailing behind you. You're swimming, you can leave or take a breath. There's no hair there, it's way behind you, and you're swimming, and then you stop and you start treading water. And then the hair all catches up to you, and it starts kind of going across your face and around your neck, and you've got it in your arm and into your mouth. It's horrible. Start swinging, get out of this. And so, part of what sabbatical is like is life slows down enough that some things you didn't know you were trailing catches up to you. So, here's an example how one of the things it was like for me. I met with a coach during the sabbatical. After the first week I was off, we met and he said, Hey, have you have you noticed any fears that are rising up in you? I'm like, fears? What are you talking about? I've been sleeping in. Uh actually, actually, there's this one thing. It's it's gonna sound silly, but it feels pretty big to me. So one of my fears is I'm gonna be off for another six weeks, and um, people are gonna be covering my job, and the place is gonna move on without me. And and my fellow staff members of the elders might think, what are we paying this guy for? What do we need him for? We're doing it just fine. What was he doing? And so this coach he does this. He crosses legs, tilts his head to the side, a little smirk, and he says, That might happen. Yes. And I was like, I want a refund. This is not. Helpful at all. And he says that might happen, and you're gonna have to trust God for what you can't do for yourself. You're gonna have to trust God for your job when you can't do your job. And so the next couple weeks, I began to kind of explore what am I not trusting God for? And it became a lot. Because I realized I have this bigger idol of security that's kind of trailing behind me that when it slowed down and it caught up to me, I realized uh I feel like I really have to depend on me or this place or other people for job security or financial security or relationship security or health security. And most of that is not within my power. In fact, most of your life is not within your power to make secure. And so part of growing as a believer is trusting God with what you can't do. I become more and more convinced that the life we live is not an achieved life, it's a received life. And so straining forward for me in this setting, this is pressing toward the goal. This this is this is renouncing my ability to guarantee my security and trusting Christ for it. So this is what straining forward, it looked like a hundred things. So I'm not prescribing to you what yours is, but what's the thing that if you finally dealt with it, would dramatically change the quality of your life? What is it that's trailing behind you? If you finally let it catch up to you and get all ensnared with it and deal with it, would dramatically change the quality of your life, would dramatically change the relationships in your life, would dramatically change your relationship with God. Pressing on is dealing with it. Pressing on is letting it catch up to you. One more part of putting on the press is Paul says he's got a why he does this. It's not just, hey, just do it. Why? Just because I said so. He says the why. And it actually was in verse one. It said, not that I've already obtained it or already perfect, but I press on to make it my own. Here's the why. Because Christ has made me his own. And so Paul's why, why do I press on? Why do I press on to take hold of knowing Christ? Because Christ took hold of me. That's why I do it. I don't do it because I ran the numbers and it's a great return on investment. I don't do it because I need blessing. I do it because he's the boss of me now. I do it because he owns me. And he's benevolent in it. That's what he does for us. The same thing he's done for Paul. Rescue him when Paul had no interest in being rescued. If you're a brother or sister of Christ, if you're a believer, he has rescued you. And so why would you press on? Because he took hold of you. Because you're his. We press on so we can experience all that he died for you to have. Everything that's in his heart for you to experience. We press on to have it, to experience it. Here's a third thing we see in the text. And this is this could be a little longer point. Uh I'll make it up in the last one. This is verse 15 and 19. Paul says, look, join imitating me. Keep your eyes on those who are an example. And again, there's many who are don't follow. And so follow a worthy example. This is our third point. He says, those who are mature, they're going to agree with me. They're going to agree with me that knowing Christ is the most important thing in life. And so if you're sitting here thinking, hey, I mean, uh I think knowing Christ is probably important. I don't know about the most important. Like, I got some important things to take care of today or Monday. Uh and so maybe if you're thinking, I don't know if it's the most important, I don't have any arguments for you. Because Paul doesn't have any arguments. Here's what I tell you, what he says. You don't need information, you need revelation. Those of you who say, yes, knowing Christ is the most important thing, the only reason you think that is got to change your mind to agree with it. The only reason you adhere to that is because he has done something in you to agree with him. Yet this is true, this is reality. And so my question for you do you leave room for revelation with those who they're off the mark? They've got divided allegiances. Yes, Christ, but something else. Do you really leave room for revelation? Or do you think it's your job to uh convince them? Do you think it's your job to change minds? And so if your kids don't value knowing Christ above all, do you leave room for revelation? Or do you insert yourself as their personal apologist? See, what they need is revelation, they don't need more arguments from you. Because if revelation happens, no other words make a difference. Their heart is now set. If your spouse of their heart is not set on Christ is the most important thing, what they need is revelation. Pray for revelation. If your parents or your friends or whoever you care about, whoever's in your orbit and their heart is not set on that knowing Christ, the most important thing, Paul says, God will reveal it. So ask him too. Ask him to reveal it. I mean, can you imagine what it would feel like if someone you care about came back on course where Jesus is the most important thing? Knowing him, being in a love relationship with him is the most important thing to them. And you didn't do anything about it, you didn't make it happen. Can you imagine what that would feel like? God, I got to see you do a miracle. That it's not on me. I just, it's a received life. So follow the examples. Here's how. One, get an example to follow. Who do you imitate in their beliefs or in the way they live their life? Is there someone you imitate? I mean, you're out there all on your own. I'll just figure it out on my own. Uh sometimes we do that because we don't want, we don't want people to know the stuff we're trying to forget from behind us. And we and we fail to see that once that's out in the open, it doesn't have empower. Uh two examples. One is uh when I was in in high school and college, I was really good friends with this guy and his family of believers, and they were kind of like surrogate Christian parents for me. And Mr. David, this is the dad, I was at the house, you know, three or four times a week, and um I was kind of uh, I don't know, not argumentative, but feisty. High school or teenage. And so um, you know, he would have his Bible out at their dining room table at the head of the table there. And so I would, you know, look over and see, oh, where is he at this week? Oh, he's Psalm 55, okay. And uh, you know, I'd I'd quit, hey, Mr. David, yeah. Psalm 55, anything good in there? And he would he would give me, like before Bible recap, he was doing the recap. He would give me something really clear and simple for a 19-year-old to go grab hold of. Yeah, maybe next week I'll look and see. Oh, Psalm 90 or something. Were you skipping pages here? How fast do you? Hey, Mr. David, yeah. And I I was checking to see this guy read his Bible or is this decoration? And so now, three decades later, guess where I read my Bible almost every morning? Yeah, at the head of the dining room table. Not because he told me this is where it happens, this is the holy of holies, this is the Shekinah glory. He he just he didn't tell me any of that. I just saw him and engaged with him, and I never thought about where I should do this. I just did it there. Uh I'll give you another one from kind of similar time period. But first year in ministry, I went to this uh trying to week-long training seminar, and one of the guys who was leading it was you know about five, six years older than me, but he just knew his stuff. I was just so enamored with him and drawn to him. I mean, he just knew doctrine and knew uh kind of kind of the right word at the right time. And so I asked him, How did you how'd you get like this? And he said, I, you know, I uh I read a lot of books. I'm like, oh, okay, like what books? He's like, I don't know, I I can't think of them on the spot. I'll tell you what, I uh tomorrow breakfast I'll bring a list. I'll think of them tonight, bringing a list, but one's in my bag. So he goes, gets in his bag, and pulls his book and hands it to me. Say, just read one chapter tonight and then I'll give you the list tomorrow. And you just you'll see what I'm talking about. I'm like, okay. I was like, this changed my life. I'm gonna be more like him. So the book he gave me was this book called Knowing God by J.I. Packard. So, okay, first chapter. I get like three pages in. I'm like, I this is hard. I mean, this is way too late. I and so I didn't finish the chapter. So the next morning I see him. Hey, I got your list for you. How'd you like the book? I told him, I didn't. I didn't even read the whole chapter. He goes, why? It was hard. He says, Oh yeah, I uh I forgot to tell you. Yeah, here's the books, you know, to read that were significant for me. Uh, but you're gonna have to suffer. You're gonna have to suffer, and you're gonna see on the other side of suffering is change. And so now, decades later, when I'm reading something like, oh my goodness, where's my phone at? That's where's the pictures? I remember, oh no, no, no. Suffering, that's the gateway to understanding. And I gotta say no to my flesh at first, second, goes, Oh, I don't want to think. Who is an example you follow? Who do you experience now that inspires you spiritually? Who you're like, I wish I would, I wish I was more like her. Yeah, she's my hero. I wish I was more like him. Who do you want to be around? I mean, get someone in your mind. And here's the thing uh you're gonna be tempted to think, I don't want to bother them. They're really busy. You're not a bother. That's what pressing on looks like. And that's what it looks like for them to press on. Because here's why someone who's farther along in sanctification should engage someone and let them follow them who's who's not as far along. Because their life's not theirs. The same reason Paul said, What's his why? So, why would someone who is a couple decades older than you in Christ, why would they spend time with you and like it? And I promise you, they will. Because they're not their own. Their life is not theirs to decide what they do. And so have some courage. I want to say this week, but that sounds like too much pressure. Have some courage. And if there's someone, I guess someone's come to mind. I really admire her. Man, I'm always impressed by him. I'm just saying would it be possible to get some time with you? You'll be surprised how much they'll enjoy you. This is how God's designed the body. So, who do you want to be around? Get an example to follow. Raise your hand and say, Can I follow you around? And here's the great thing you'll do stuff like this guy did to me and say, Oh, what have you memorized? And they'll hang their head and go, Oh, what have I got myself into? Oh, I've got myself into pressing on. That's what I've got myself into. Second thing under follow the examples is be an example to follow. This is where Paul says, look, those who walk according to the example, if you knew someone was shaping their life based on how you live and act and think, would you change any of how you live and act and think? Is there anything you would do more of, or anything you do less of if you knew someone was patterned in your life after you? I mean, pressing on is okay, make that change. What's the more of, what's the less of? Be an example to follow. Proverbs 13, uh, this this has been a point in the scripture for a long time. The author says, Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm. Whoever follows the wise, they be whoever you follow, that's what you become like. You follow the wise, you become wise. You become the foolish, uh, you become like them, and you get what they get, which is harm. Life does not flourish for them. And so I'm telling you right now, there's someone you're wiser than. And there's someone wiser than you. There's someone who can follow you, and there's someone you can follow. This thing is part of what Paul's saying, pressing on looks like. And when they follow, they can't actually push you. They don't know they're doing that. And then someone you're following. Let me say this one more thing about being an example to follow. Um, if you if you have children, and I don't know, they're older than seven, maybe it's younger than that. Uh, you have experience, and they can be 50, by the way. You can have super adult children, you have experience that um they will hear things from other people and listen to them. They're the same things you said to them years before, in various ways, and various times, all kinds of food have provided. Uh somehow, sometimes uh another adult, your kid will listen to, they won't listen to you. They'll follow that example. So here, how about this? What if what God's doing is uh, hey, you let someone else's kid follow you, and you trust me to have your kid follow someone else? What if that's part of what he's doing? Could you trust him with that? So, who are the examples you're following? Who are the examples that follow you? Uh, a third part of this following worthy examples is we're to grieve unworthy examples. We're gonna sit here for a minute. Um, everyone chooses a side in life. You either you're either siding with Christ or you're siding against him. And siding against him doesn't always mean, oh, I hate Christ. Really, either he's the king of your life or you're the king of your life. And the sad irony is that people can think they're on the side of Christ, and they're not. They have tricked themselves and they've claimed things to convince themselves, no, I'm really following Christ, but it's a proxy for the real thing. They're impostors for the real thing. So what Paul says, he calls them enemies of the cross, and he says, he's moved with tears. And so grieving, uh grieving those who are unworthy examples, ones you I I would not want to follow, I shouldn't have, no one should follow them. Paul says uh you should grieve them. You should be not kind of like they get what they deserve. Yeah, every bit of it. Uh it shouldn't harden you, you should be softened by that. Now, the person who uh they don't press to know Christ, there's this cascade of four things that we're gonna see in the text. That Paul says, and in his time, these are false teachers who've woven themselves around the church, and they're trying to return uh these these believers. Hey, uh, sure, sure, trust in Christ, but also you have to trust in uh this Old Testament practice, the ritualistic practice. And so what they're doing is they're exchanging a proxy for uh something that's an imposter for the real thing. And Paul says they think they're helping, they think they're they're actually don't think, they know they're right, but their end is destruction. They're so wrong they don't see it. So the irony is they speak with certainty, but they're in dire trouble. There's three more things. One, he says their God is their belly. So in his context, this is talking about the dietary food laws that they're so stuck on. Look, just eat this and don't eat that, and eat this time and don't eat this time and do it this way, and that will make God happy. That and what it is, it's a proxy for a relationship. They don't have a relationship with God, they've they've got a contractual fulfillment. So proxy this means in place of. So God wants to be known, He's making Himself known. Um, and yet they're trading. I don't want to know God, I'll just meet a standard and think he's happy enough without knowing me. And he's not happy to not know you. He's not happy to not be known by you. And don't think like he's had a sad day. Uh, his joy is to be known and glorified. So today, what this look can look like, uh we don't necessarily have false teachers in the church with food laws, but it looks like persons who they're controlled by their appetites, they're controlled by every whim of their flesh. And so they prioritize a life of the flesh over the life of the spirit. They are and they become so full of experiences there's there's no room to experience God. And that's the thing, they they have a proxy of I have experiences, and that's a proxy for experiencing God. And they can think it's good enough, but they're in dire condition. And so let me ask you this: what if boredom is designed by God to lead you to Him? What if boredom is His idea? It's not just like a lull in humanity. What if boredom's like, yes, God's like, on, you know, uh on the eighth day I made boredom? Because boredom is how they're gonna see nothing else can sustain and satisfy me. I need something else. I need something truly satisfying. Uh, what if boredom is that? Two more things. Their glory is their shame. A person who is repentant, they say, I'm not proud of what I've done. A person who's not repentant, they they manufacture this proxy for right standing with God. And the proxy is right standing with themselves. And so they're right in their own eyes. Um, the things that should embarrass them, they've just decided they're gonna be proud of. And so what this looks like is um they trust their victimhood of their suffering versus Christ's suffering, or they they they have freedom in Christ, and in this freedom, they live however they want, thinking they'll still enjoy salvation. So the things that they should be embarrassed about, like trusting their wisdom over God's wisdom, they become a source of merit badge for them, becomes a source of pride. They openly brag about the actions that they should feel shame over. It's because they they've moved their goal, they've given up on knowing Christ. Giving up on that, and just I'm gonna, I'm just gonna know myself. The fourth part of this other unworthy examples is their minds are set on earthly things. So Paul's enemies at that time, they were affixed on blessing only themselves. God's blessing is not for anyone else, just for us. If you follow this one, so they worked themselves in the church. Uh it was it's a proxy for living under God's favor. I'm gonna live under my favor, and it's a substitute for God's favor. What that can look like today is the person who uh they they don't see past. I get up, I go to work, I uh I pay my bills, and I just count the days to my next vacation. They've shrunken their life to a small little experience of what they can control. Or maybe it's a little bigger where uh they've got a financial planner and they've got a health regimen and a mental health coach, and and all the while they're missing out on what God can provide because they're owned, they're just gonna provide for themselves. And they've limited to the what favor can I give me, and they're missing out on living under God's favor. And so, really, it's a proxy for security. I'll settle for the security I can provide myself and miss out on the security God provides. I got one more thing, and then we'll be done. And this one will be quick. It's the last thing Paul says in verse 20 21. Remember the The promise. And so some things he promises in here. Says, your citizenship is in heaven, and from heaven we await a savior. There's a savior promised to come. And when he comes, he will make all things complete, including you. I told the last service this that um I don't have any hard stats. I just know what it's like to be human. And I know some of your stories. If we were to take a little poll and say, hey, who right now bodily is suffering? Who is at dis-ease in their body? I think it would surprise you how many of you there are. How widespread this experience is. And it says, you're gonna get a new body, a glorious body. And the promise is the one who subjects everything to himself, he's guaranteed to make this happen. And so uh remember the promise. Remember, partially, remember that it's eternity is what awaits the believer, and how long eternity is. And I I don't know, I'll illustrate it this way, and this illustration will fail. It won't really be eternity, but here's an example. Uh, this room, sometimes we use it for other things, and we take out all the chairs, and um, and then when we reset it, uh, there's not like some magical laser grid that happens, or elves don't appear at night and do it. Um, you know, we got like a team of people. And if you're interested in loving God and loving your fellow man by being part of that tribe, I'm the one you want to talk to. Uh we we want you to push on in that way. But what we do, we set these uh these bright yellow straps on the ground. And and they and it's from row one to row 13, and they mark where their chairs are supposed to go and how many rows in each chair. And so if I were to take one of these straps and kind of roll it out there and to take the very edge of it and take a pen and just just color that just one corner of the edge, where the rest of all that distance is there, that one corner of the edge would be like your lifespan. And what awaits you when your Savior from heaven finally comes and he makes all things uh uh when when finally what's what's not fully realized, the kingdom is fully realized, and not just all the row 13, but out the door, out the other door, over the pond, down to Victoria. I mean, eternity is eternity. And so don't get sidetracked or off that something in this life has become overly important. Knowing Christ is what is preeminent. Everything else is just the edge of the strap. The second thing, and remember the promise is remember what will happen. You're gonna get changed, you're gonna get an eternal body. The parts of you are like, this isn't really how it should be. It's finally gonna be how it should be. All the things that Adam ruined by the fall will be righted. You're finally gonna feel like, oh, this is living. I had little crumbs of it in Christ, but when you're in a resurrected body, you're like, ah, yes, this is what I've made for. This is what Jesus died for me to experience. I got a foretaste of it, but now it's just the full on all the time. What has been promised, Jesus is able to fulfill. And so the person that believes Jesus is the most important thing. It's a song we sang before. At the highest place I ever reached is at your feet, I've accomplished everything. That's really the truth. And so let me shift us here. If if you're visiting today, you're like, I what is all this you guys are into? If you're visiting, just relax. What we do at the end of our service is we don't just rush out and go, amen, good luck. Uh we give ourselves some time to think about. Actually, we give ourselves time for God to speak to us. Okay, what do you what do you want me to do with what I've heard? What here has my name on it? And so we're gonna pause. Clyde's gonna uh play something. Um, but I want you to ask God, all right, there's some questions on the screen. You you can use those or say, look, I don't need no questions in the way. I just need to talk, you need to talk to me. And he will. Sometimes the thoughts in your head aren't just you, sometimes they're him. Holy Spirit, I ask right now that you would, in the next minute or two, you just kind of brood on us like a hen on some ready eggs, and you would hatch out of us newness. You'd hatch out of us new life. Holy Spirit, speak to us. Have your way. Amen. Lord, that's always been a reality. Um, plant our feet on higher ground. And so we ask that you would continue uh to work in us. This experience of knowing you and enjoying it. And out of the overflow of our joy, without even trying, we would invite others to experience the same thing. Others uh who don't know you aren't even saved, would be confused and curious and desirous of this joy we have. I'm not happiness, but joy. This is what we want. This is what you've died for us to experience. Amen.
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