One Goal / Reward
Notes
Transcript
Intro: I’ve read that in one strand of Judaism (particularly on stream of Pharisaic thought) in Paul’s day there was a belief that if all of Israel could keep the law perfectly for one day, that God would bring His Messiah and end of days promises to fulfilment. This, coupled with the fear of a new captivity, is what led to the pharisaic tendency to build walls around the law to keep people from reliving the idolatry of their forefathers which, at least partially, led to the destruction of the northern tribes of Israel by the Assyrians and the Babylonian Captivity of the southern tribes. The issue was that the Law of Moses and the rules that had been created to protect people from breaking the Law became the idols that Israel was worshipping.
Many times, the things that we place ultimate value in are not bad things and they aren’t things that we would identify as objects of worship. In fact, they are things that are good and sometimes even necessary. Take for instance, the place food plays in our lives. While we need to eat and garner nourishment, we place a priority on taste and texture over nourishment. Then there is the fact that we like to eat, and eat much more than necessary. In fact, I might say that gluttony is one of the greatest acceptable sins in the United States today. We’d question a minister who had a mistress tagging along to church, but we hardly bat an eye at an overweight one. At first glance our text this morning might not look like it is addressing idolatry, yet a deeper identifies that this is a part of Paul’s argument, and a part we want to look at this morning. If you have a Bible, I’d love for you to turn with me to Philippians 3 with me this morning. We are going to start at verse 3 (READ Philippians 3:4 - 14) What we are going to see this morning is what is of ultimate value. We are going to begin by asking the question “What are your idols?”
though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, 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 toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I. What Are Your Idols?
I. What Are Your Idols?
A. Paul’s Idols
1. Acceptance with God
2. Prestige with man
3. More so than others!
B. What Are You Seeking?
1. Prestige?
2. Possessions?
3. Recreation / Ease?
4. Health?
5. There is nothing wrong with anyone of these if they are viewed from a godly perspective. The problem arises when we expect them to offer to us what only God can offer. When we seek and strive for them as our ultimate thing, then they become a god thing, an idol we worship.
Trans –
II. The Value of Our Idols
II. The Value of Our Idols
A. To the World
1. Priceless
2. To be garnered at all cost
B. To Paul
1. Not priceless but worthless
2. To be discarded and left behind
Trans –
III. The Only Valuable Goal
III. The Only Valuable Goal
A. Nothing this world has to offer
1. Family
2. Fame
3. Fortune
4. Pleasure
B. God’s Provision
1. To be found in Christ
2. To have righteousness from Christ
3. To know the power of resurrection
4. Worth running after – Paul paints the picture of not just running but digging in deep to pursue this relationship!
ADVERTISEMENT