- The core message in this central section of Philippians is somewhat surprising.
- Rather than simple objective truth, Paul explains that the way he defines his identity gives him the inner motivation he needs in order to press on towards his goal.
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Video cover image by StockCake
- Series on Philippians: Part 6
Recap
- The most remarkable thing about Philippians is how Paul opens up his heart and his emotions
- Paul tells us that his affection towards them is actually Jesus’
- Then in the rest of chapter 1 we saw a very intimate side of Paul.
- In order to help the Philippians deal with their own anxiety, Paul opened up about a couple of areas in his life where there was huge potential for anxiety
- And he took them through his own thought processes
- Which was to get his overall goal straight
- And then remind himself that whatever turned out, whether this or whether that, it would all be good.
- e.g. whether he died or lived
- The third week we looked the first 11 verse of chapter 2
- at the most beautiful and captivating description of Jesus
- put in the form of a song
- Fourth week Philippians 2:12–13
- …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,Better Translation:
- With awe and wonder, keep working at achieving spiritual health within your community
- …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
- Fifth week: How do I Measure my Life?
1. Why Identity is So Important
When I first began the practice of plastic surgery many years ago, I was amazed by the dramatic and sudden changes in character and personality that often resulted when a facial defect was corrected. Changing the physical image in many instances appeared to create an entirely new person. In case after case the scalpel that I held in my hand became a magic wand that not only transformed the patient’s appearance, but transformed his whole life. The shy and retiring became bold and courageous. A “moronic,” “stupid” boy changed into an alert, bright youngster who went on to become an executive with a prominent firm. A salesman who had lost his touch and his faith in himself became a model of self-confidence. Maxwell Maltz |
- He went on to say that actually the plastic surgery was not generally necessary—people needed to live out of a new identity
- They could do that without a new face!
- When I first came to Canada I was walking along a downtown street and saw a huge pit
- Every day it got deeper, until you could peer down and see tiny excavators and workmen, at the bottom of this massive whole
- This hole represents the self-identity of many of us, we are a dark pit
- Then one day I spotted a sign, an architect’s impression of the finished building
- I suddenly figured out what was happening - This was underground parking—5 floors down
- I watched Scotia Plaza being built, Now the third highest building in Canada
- As we read today’s passage, let us notice,
- If Paul is Scotia Plaza under construction, which identity he is living out of:
- the current pit, or the architect’s impression of the finished building?
Phil 3:10–4:1 Identity in our Future Reality
- The purpose being: to know him and the power of his resurrection,
and to share in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death,
- so that by whatever means to attain to the resurrection from the dead
- Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected;
but I press on, to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me.
- Brothers and sisters, I do not count myself to have attained this,
but with a single focus:
on the one hand forgetting those things which are behind
on the other hand reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
- I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind;
and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that to you also.
- Only let us walk by the standard that we have already attained.
- Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are walking this way,
just as you have us as an example.
- For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even with tears,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
- whose end is destruction,
whose god is their belly, and glory is in their shame
—who set their mind on earthly things.
- But our citizenship is in heaven,
from where we also eagerly await the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- who will transform our lowly body to become like his glorious body,
according to the power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.
- Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown,
stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
AMF
- v.15 These are the truths I believe in and live my life byIf you agree with this truth, then watch my life to see what it looks likeIf you see someone living in a very different way, they are probably basing it out of a different view of truth
3. Putting this into Practice
- How do we view heaven?
- We have lost some of the excitement of early times
- a neat little subject in a container
- a separate topic for discussion
- that is not how the Apostle Paul viewed heaven—for him it permeated everything
- The new life within us is already participating in heaven
- “seated us with Christ in the heavenly places” Eph 2:6
- When we pray, when we sing praises
- Get this—this is a key point today:
- Instead of thinking of now being the normal, and what will heaven be like?
- We must look at our present circumstances in the light of heaven. Heaven is the normal.
- Use it as a flashlight to examine our present lives
- Just like the Scotia Plaza—it made no sense until I saw the future picture
- The same with our lives
- e.g. friend with injured back in traction: “I’ll be out in 2 weeks!”
- Heaven is not an “extra” tacked on to the end of the N.T.
- The reality of this new age is an underlying theme, woven throughout
- You participate in it every time you pray or praise God
- e.g. (note context of love)
- As a community
- The church is frequently pictured as a building
- we are living stones, precious jewels
- we are the temple, the dwelling place of God
- Just like my story of Scotia Plaza, we must think of our self-identity as the finished picture, not the bulldozers in the mud.
- We are the church! We are God’s joy and delight! A work in progress, but what a work!
- You’ve heard the saying “nobody says on their deathbed ‘I wish I had spent more time in the office’”
- Similarly in heaven, we might say “I wish I didn’t have that stupid argument with that other person—it was so petty in the light of eternity”
- Spoiler—this is what Paul is about to do...
- The church is frequently pictured as a building
- As individuals
- The main point here is not that heaven is near but that heaven is the reality,
- in the shadow of which we are now living
- Heaven makes sense of everything
- Every injustice you see in your life now, or disappointment with God, or sadness
- will fade like shadows in the noon-day sun
- Every injustice you see in your life now, or disappointment with God, or sadness
- The main point here is not that heaven is near but that heaven is the reality,
- What is needed is not a series of dull warnings about being ready for the Lord’s return
- But the exciting perspective of who we are —part of the New Creation, soon to be revealed
- We are like embryos, being formed into some new being
- Or a construction site
- So get excited about what you are now by looking at the picture of the finished building!
- My prayer is that God would help us to view ourselves and our community in this way.
- Use the light of the future to evaluate what is important to you now!