| October 10, 1999 | Looking Up | Philippians 3:12-21
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Especially: "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
Our text today urges us to live in a way where we are constantly Looking Up. We are to be looking heavenward, not toward the earthly things of this life. We do this by our good works, those deeds which God desires us to do. These good works do not earn us God's favor-that we have as a free gift. Rather, the good works are our response to the gift we have been given.
This text urges us to be stretching ahead in doing good works. Stretching means moving to the point where it gets uncomfortable. When you stretch in preparation to exercise, you make your muscles and joints move beyond the point where they want to stop. In doing good works, we may find ourselves thinking that it is too far. It is so easy to sit back and only do the things with which we are comfortable.
Consider these ideas. Have you ever tried talking to fellow members at church whom you have never spoken to before. Have you ever tried reaching out to children other than your own to encourage them in Sunday School, confirmation, and youth group? Have you ever visited someone whom you know is having trouble to try to be of help to them rather than passing rumors about them?
We are urged to stretch in good works as we work towards the goal. The goal is sinless life in heaven. This is what Christ calls us to. He gives us a heavenly, upward call. Look up, seek up, work up to life in heaven. This means we ought to be about the business of trying to live that heavenly life here and now. We ought to be at work ridding our lives of all sins and doing the good works for which we have been saved.
Those who are mature in their faith will be those who keep in mind that heavenward call. They will have their eyes set on heavenly goals. So we are urged, in that maturity, to walk and think the same. We are to be moving together as a group. Don't give up trying either. We are constantly falling short of perfection, but our Lord desires that we continue to strive for heaven on earth.
A story is told about a church meeting where a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian Faith. "I'm a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute my wealth to the blessings of God in my life." He went on to recall the turning point of his faith. As a young man he had just earned his first dollar and he went to a church meeting that night. At that meeting was a missionary who discussed his work. At the time of the offering to go to the work of this missionary the wealthy man knew that he would either have to give it all to God or nothing at all. So at that moment he decided to give all that he had to God. Looking back he knew that God had blessed that decision and had made him wealthy.
When he had finished there was an awed silence. As he moved to his seat and sat down a little old lady leaned over to him and said: "I dare you to do it again."
In doing our good works, we are to pay attention to the good patterns. You know, this is hard in this age when TV and other media emphasize the worst examples. Our text encourages us to pay attention to people who provide good examples. My suggestion in this regard is not to look to the media to provide these examples. Rather, follow those who are Looking Up, living heavenly life here in this world.
In our text Paul does speak of those who are not Looking Up and seeking after the heavenly prize. He has sadness over these who are lost. There are many who live their lives as enemies of the cross. An "enemy of the cross" is one who finds the cross of Christ unimportant, unnecessary, or offensive. They are those who see no need for Christ's sacrifice for us. They are offended that it might be suggested that they have sins for which someone needed to be punished, namely, Christ. They find it unacceptable to think that justice must be served for all the wrongs all people have committed. These people are enemies of the cross. They become enemies because they cannot or will not believe they have sin filling their lives. They become enemies because they cannot or will not believe that Christ sacrificed Himself for all their sins. These are the ones over which Paul is weeping, and we ought to weep also, and then act.
However, this is not given in our text simply to lead us to weep. Rather the enemies of the cross are given as contrast to those who are friends of the cross. Those are the ones who know the great and precious gift they have received from their Lord and they hold on to that gift and pursue the prize. These are the patterns we are urged to follow and we are warned not to follow those who are enemies of the cross.
Indeed it can happen, but how does one fall from the Christian faith? Usually it is not like walking off a cliff, but rather it is a slow process. We start losing our hold of our Lord when we neglect the gifts He gives us. These gifts are His Word, His Divine Services, His Supper, and His Absolution. Absolution is hearing that our sins are forgiven from fellow believers and from our Pastor in general and individual confession.(1)
What are these gifts neglected in favor of? The text says: "their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." The fundamental issue is that they take their eyes off of God and put it on other things-on earthly things. Perhaps on to satisfying sensual desires, which would be suggested by the idea that their God is their stomach.
This text is not only for those other people, however. No, God's Word is here for you to consider in your life today. So, ask yourself how you do in this regard. Where is your focus and attention directed? Is it on your stomach or on earthly things? This happens to each of us when our gaze turns from heavenly things and settles on things of this life-earthly things. Our dedication falls short of what God desires for us. Each of us must consider how our lives are lived. Where do we turn away from Christ to become enemies of the cross?
Praise be to God that He does not leave us as enemies of the cross. From our sinful state our Lord has rescued us. He has forgiven all our sins and even lifted us up. All of this was achieved with the certainty that the power of God provides. When God does something, there is no doubt about it being accomplished. From God's point of view, one beyong all time, are salvation is fully completed and we are now righteous and holy having been lifted up by the precious blood of Christ. From our point of view, this has yet to be completed. We still await the fulfillment of these certain guarantees.
God, however, wants us to see things from His point of view. This is why the text takes us out of this world. It says, "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." We are drawn away from this world of sin and suffering and into the heavenly glory. We are told we are now, currently citizens of heaven. That is our home and we are to only consider ourselves visitors here. We are directed to Look Up for our homeland is heaven. We are also directed to look up because our Savior is coming to complete our salvation. He will do this by His power as God, and will achieve our heavenly life through the resurrection of our bodies. We look forward to our bodies being made glorious as we begin our heavenly life.
As we look back through our text, we see that we are urged to do good works but it is important to remember that this is not about our salvation. No, our works do not save us. Our works show that we are thankful and responding to the salvation we have already received. We are not working to try to earn a place in heaven. One already worked to earn that place for me. I have been made His own, at the hands of Christ Jesus. So it says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." See how that says that Jesus already took ahold of us. In other words, we are already citizens of heaven because of Jesus. Now, we don't work to earn that citizenship, but rather we live our life seeking to fulfill the citizenship which we have been given.
We do this by forgetting the things behind. Yes, we can forget them. Since Christ died to forgive all our sins, those sins of the past are gone, erased, wiped out. Now, some individuals might wish to continually mention our mistakes of the past. They may want to keep reminding us of our failures. We are freed by Christ, instead, to forget what is behind, because He has forgiven those sins.
As we live we are surely reminded that we are not perfected yet. But one thing our faith teaches us perfectly: that is to forget the past and press on toward heaven. Paul does have this part down. He knows to forget the past, for Christ has forgotten his past sins. He knows to look heavenward because that is the promise Christ gave when He Himself was resurrected and then ascended.
We also live as citizens by stretching ahead--reaching for things which are not quite in our grasp. This is what we do as we reach for the things eternal that are not seen. They are invisible, yet they are certain because we have Christ's promises to back them up-promises which will never be forsaken.
Thank goodness that we do have this upward, heavenly call of our Lord. He called us to faith in His saving blood. He called us to believe that His death and resurrection was for each one of us. He died for you! He rose for you! This is the upward call that our Lord places into our ears and hearts according to His gracious Word.
Our Lord is gracious to us. He does give us forgiveness and eternal life. He also promises to bless us in other ways. Thus, our text speaks of those who fall short of Christian maturity. What we lack, we are promised, the Lord will provide. Also this God will reveal, make known to you. He will do this in addition to making known to you His goodness to forget your every sin and open the door and welcome you into a heavenly resurrected life.
As you live your life, you can know the truth that Jesus has taken ahold of you. He has grabbed you out of your sins and brought you into heavenly citizenship. As you await the return of this Savior, you can live with the certainty of God's love for you and you can be looking up. Then when He returns, you will be resurrected with a glorious body and live forever in the place where you are already a citizen. This is the blessings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
1. Perhaps Absolution requires a bit of explanation: It is the declaration that our sins are forgiven. We hear absolution from one of three sources: 1) our fellow believers in Christ, 2) our pastor in general confession spoken in our Divine Services and 3) our pastor in individual confession and absolution over those sins which especially trouble us. We neglect absolution when we fail to confess our sins. This is rampant in our soceity today. People are unwilling to admit their sins, even between God and themselves. They may also deny that what they are doing is a sin. Many times if the pastor or a fellow believer will confront another with their sin, they will take great offense and leave the church. That, of course, is simply continuing along the evil path they started upon when they neglected the Lord's Absolution. So, by neglecting these gifts: The Lord's Word, Divine Services, Supper and Absolution we start to wander away.