CROWN OF LIFE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH
Pastor John C. Schneidervin

First Sunday Of End Time November 3, 2002

Follow Paul’s Example Of The Christian Life
1. The Example
2. The Motivation

Text: Philippians 3:12-14 & 17-21
12 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. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Sermon:
It has been said: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” If we can see an example, we can understand what it is far better than just hearing it described.
Let’s say we wanted to learn how to pass a football. Brett Favre could expend a thousand words telling us how to pass a football. But his telling us could never teach us as much as his picking up a football and showing us how to grip it in our hand, how to cock our arm, and how to throw and release it. His example would teach us far more than all his words could tell us.
So it is with learning how to live the Christian life. Seeing an example will show us how to live as a Christian. Our Lord in his goodness has given us such an example, the apostle Paul. This morning the Word of God encourages us to: “Follow Paul’s Example Of The Christian Life.” We will see his example and the motivation for following it.

Paul started the church in Philippi. The ancient city of Philippi was a Roman colony. Most of its population were Roman citizens, consisting of retired army veterans and their families. They were heathen pagans steeped in the idolatry of their gods. But then Paul brought the gospel of Jesus to Philippi around A.D 50 to 52. A number believed and became Christians. Those new Christians and Roman citizens knew little about how to live a Christian life. Paul had to teach them from the Word of God. More than that he modeled for them how a Christian lived. When he wrote the words of our text to them around A.D. 61, he encouraged them in verse 17: “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.”

Paul, as well as his fellow co-workers Silas, Timothy, and Luke, was an example for the Christians in Philippi. They were to join other Christians in following Paul’s example and the pattern of life he set for them.
What was his example? Look at verses 12-14. Paul stated, “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.”

Paul had not yet obtained the resurrection to the perfect life in heaven. He had not become perfect on earth as he would be in heaven. But he was the example of what an imperfect Christian does with his life on earth until he reaches heaven.

Paul portrayed himself as a runner in a race. The first thing he did was to forget what was in his past. You know a runner in a race cannot look back to where he had been. If he did so, he would lose his focus on where he was going and wander off track. He would lose the race. So Paul forgot about whatever successes and achievements the Lord had brought about through him in the past, such as his missionary efforts in Antioch and Galatia. They were history, but it was a new day, a time to move on. Paul also forgot about all his sins and failures in the past. They also were history. Through the blood of Jesus Christ his sins had been purged away. There was no sense in looking back on his sins therefore. Rather, like a runner in a race, Paul stayed focused on where he was going and pressed ahead. He pressed on toward that perfect life in heaven to win that prize of eternal life for which God had called him to faith in Christ Jesus.

Now let us follow Paul’s example of how to live as a Christian. God in his graciousness has also called us to come to heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. So let’s run the race and starting right now let’s forget what is behind us. What is behind us is past, over and done with, history. Our successes of the past are past. It is a new day, a time to move on. As for our sins, they are past and have been washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ. We have no reason to dwell on them. Therefore, from this moment on let us run the race and press ahead to live for the perfect life in heaven, to which God has called us in Christ.

Who here has a perfect life on earth in which he or she never has any troubles and nothing ever goes wrong? Raise your hand if you have such a perfect life now. Our life is anything but perfect, correct? Why? We sin. We get sick. We grow old. We have aches and pains. We purchase cars, appliances, and other things which all in time wear out and break down. We need rain; we get none. Other times we have had too much rain but we get some more. About the time we think we can save some money to get ahead, the water heater springs a leak or some other expense crops up. We end up further behind rather than getting ahead. Do you understand why we have such an imperfect life? It is a reminder that the perfect life we desire is in heaven, not on earth. So let’s not grow weary because of the imperfections of life. But strengthened through faith in our Savior Jesus, let’s follow Paul’s example of the Christian life and run the race to press ahead toward that perfect life in heaven.
Paul’s example was far different than how many who called themselves Christians were living at the time. In verse 18 and 19 Paul wrote, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.” Many who claimed to be Christians lived as enemies of the cross. Their God was not the Lord but their stomach. They lived to satisfy their appetites with pleasure, food, drink, the good life as it has been called. They indulged themselves in the desires of their sinful nature. Their glory, then, was all the shameful worldly, sinful things they indulged themselves in. Their mind was set on the earthly things of what they could do and enjoy. Thus their end was destruction.

This is both a warning and example of how not to live. But we can so easily slip into living for our stomach and making it our God -- food, drink, sensual pleasures, and good times that satisfy our sinful desires. Our mind also can be set on the earthly things, the cares and the worries of life -- our job, home, savings, investments, errands to be run, and so forth. What we glory in then becomes our shame, for we are doing evil. We then have become enemies of the cross whose end is destruction.

So let us not lose our focus in life. Starting right now let’s make the purpose of our Christian life pressing ahead toward the perfect life in heaven. Our motivation for doing so is stated in verses 20 and 21. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” What will motivate us to press ahead to attain that perfect life in heaven? Knowing that our citizenship is in heaven.

How these verses must have struck the ancient Christians in Philippi. They were citizens of Rome who took great pride in their Roman citizenship. But then they heard from Paul that their true citizenship as believers in Jesus was not in Rome but in heaven.

These verses should strike us as well. We take great pride in being Americans, citizens of this great country of the United States of America. As a result our focus is blurred, for our real citizenship is in heaven, not here in the United States. So instead of thinking of ourselves as American citizens, let us realize that we are foreigners, pilgrims passing through on our way to our true country in heaven. Knowing we are citizens of heaven will motivate us to run the race and press ahead toward the perfect life in heaven that awaits us.
Being citizens of heaven, we eagerly await our Savior to come from there, our Lord Jesus Christ. While on earth himself he redeemed us with the perfect life he lived for us and the innocent death he died for us to pay for our sins. Having saved us, he ascended into heaven, where he now rules over all things for our benefit until the day he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

For the day of his coming we wait eagerly, because he will then by his almighty power transform our present lowly bodies, which are corrupted by sin, into glorious bodies like his own. Then we will be freed from the sinful nature which infects us now. Then we will be freed from the weaknesses and frailties of our bodies which are the consequences of sin. Then we and our bodies and our life will be perfect in every way. This is our motivation for pressing ahead for the perfect life that is in heaven.

What we have just heard and seen is the example of how to live as a Christian that Paul has set for us. Run the race of faith. Forget the past. Press ahead for the perfect life in heaven.

Amen.