Notes from a sermon on 17th January 2010 from Philippians 3 verses 1 - 11
Chapter 3 starts with the word “finally” which really means the writer wants to sum up everything he has said to this point. In Paul’s spiritual life he never stopped growing. It is dangerous to get to a place where we feel that is it spiritually speaking - we have all that God has for us. Paul begins by speaking about himself, warning about spiritual lives then goes on to speak of himself and what he has given up in his spiritual life that he might win the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10 “that I might know him”. As Christians are we still growing today? Do we think we have got to the place where we think we have landed? Backsliding is a result of a lack of desire to go on with the Lord. Revelation 3 verse 17. The little fellowship at Laodicea is saying they “have need of nothing.” Can we get down before the God of heaven today and say we stand in need of nothing? The apostle Paul couldn’t do that. He had told them what he had given up, what it cost him to be a Christian but he never stopped growing. Peter speaking to Christians said we are to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3 verse 18). We should be adding to our faith. Are we growing day by day? Are we in need of something today? Are we asking the Lord for it every day? Do we really want to know more about the Lord? Paul’s personal desire was to know the Lord in deeper greatest sense. Is that our desire? How does that desire manifest itself?
That Paul might share in this power - “that I might know him and the power of his resurrection”. Christianity is not a dead religion - it is a vibrant, real experience. Paul knew full well he could not live without it. The apostle Paul knew his life would benefit through the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. On the cross of Calvary Jesus finished the work he came to do and it is finished. Jesus is risen again. God put the seal of the Lord’s atoning work by raising his son from the dead. That is the sort of power Paul benefited from. That is the power we can benefit from today. Is that our desire today? That we might know something of this resurrection power today? To overcome the battles Satan throws against us. Those early Christians when they were going out on Christ’s mission to preach and evangelise and to make disciples they were told to “wait in Jerusalem”. They were to wait for the power. Are we waiting for the power today? Have we received that power? Do we know anything of the infilling power of the Spirit? That is what we need today. In Acts 19 verse 2 the apostle Paul was coming to Ephesus when he met certain disciples and he asks them “have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” He wanted to see them filled from God. Their reply was “we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” Their teaching hadn’t gone that far. When the apostle spoke to them and repaired the holes in their faith, what a difference that made in their lives. The Bible says 2 things happened - they spoke with tongues and also began to prophesy. Are we really sharing in this resurrection power? “Many get to Calvary but few desire to go to Pentecost” someone once said. Are you saying you can be saved and not have the Holy Ghost? To be saved means to be In repentance of sin. There is nothing half hearted about it. When we are saved we receive the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote to the Ephesians “be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Holy Spirit.” When filled with the Holy Spirit we receive the power of the Holy Spirit. It will cost to be filled with the Spirit of God.
That Paul might be steadfast in his sufferings. Paul didn’t want to learn this thing from a text book or a teacher. He wanted to learn them first hand - “that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.” 1 Peter 5 verse 1 “The elders which are among you I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.” If we could only get it into our hearts and minds in those moments leading up to the cross, in these public years in which Christ ministered, when he went his own streets and town, when people turned their back on him, those who even said he had a devil because he was able to raise the sick and the dead, then that awful night in the garden - the loneliness of it, the sufferings he experienced, is nothing compared to the sufferings of the cross. When he was spat upon, beaten and, cursed. Peter witnessed all of that. The people in the book of Acts were beaten, ridiculed and hated. Acts 5 verse 41 “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Paul said in Galatians 6 verse 17 “for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”. In Corinthians we read that Paul was beaten, whipped, held in chains but he counted it a joy, he rejoiced for this was for Christ. Imagine the ridicule he got from city to city. People called him a babbler, preached wrong doctrines, said all manner of things against him. What did Jesus say “blessed is the man when people say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.” (Matthew 5 verse 11) When you and I stand in glory will there be marks of the sufferings we have endured for the Lord. Will there be the marks of the pain and tears as we have prayed for others to be saved?
That Paul wanted to surrender to his death - “and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.” Paul wanted to die for Christ. Would we be ready to die for Christ? Paul had been saved for 30 odd years when he wrote this letter yet was still determined to know Christ. Paul was talking here of dying daily. We have to step into the shadows and let the Lord take the main feature.
Paul wanted to be secure in the last day - “if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” His eyes were on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a Christian, a child of God are we waiting for that day when the Lord Jesus will come, when the shout of the archangel, the trump of God will sound, the dead in Christ will rise first, when the body and soul will be reunited. Paul could say what a day that will be - is that what we are aiming for today? Let’s reach out today. Take another step and pray for the power of God in our lives to live for Christ.
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