Many people have died in these
past few days. On the tombstone there will be two dates and a dash in between. That
dash represents your life.
Every time I go to a funeral I realise
that life is short. So whatever I am pursuing- is it worth it?
Have you heard a preacher say ‘finally’?
Paul says finally half way through his letters. It’s a marker saying, ‘so then’!
Paul says ‘rejoice’ 20 times. He qualifies how we should rejoice in the
Lord. You may say that you don’t know my situation. Happiness comes from
happenings. Joy depends on Jesus and what he has done, who he is. We thank him
for the big and small things. When we face challenges, the way to overcome that
is to focus on the attributes of Jesus.
In Africa, there is a miracle berry-
after eating which everything else tastes sweet. Praising Jesus is like that. As
we thank him, we are able to rejoice in everything.
Remember where Paul is writing
from- not from a 5-star hotel but in chains in prison. He says that it is no
trouble for him to repeat things over and over again. I want to remind you to
Eat Pray Love.
When Paul was travelling he
received a vision to go to Macedonia ( Acts 16). When he went there he preached
the wonderful gospel of grace that we sang about this morning.
We are all sinners- none of our good deeds can make up for our bad.
The son of God became a man, lived a
sinless life- died on the cross- so that my sins would be forgiven. You don’t
need to do anything. That’s the gospel
of grace.
Q. What happened at Philippi?
He preached this gospel and moved
on. Then, some Jews came along and told them that believing is not enough. They
had to get circumcised. Paul was livid when he heard this. ( Gal 5:12) They were saying that Old
Testament practices had to be followed as well. Paul was angry with them.
So we do not put confidence in anything we
do but in the finished work on the cross. All our works are nothing. In verse
4 Paul lists his pedigree. He was a Jew of the highest order. But he did not
boast in any of this. Compared to
knowing Jesus, everything was a loss- even the good things, even the preaching,
evangelising etc. Knowing Christ is the greatest of all. Paul considered
everything else as s#*t.
We thank God
for what he has done in our lives but we don’t boast in it.
In 2016 can
we focus our attention on knowing Jesus more deeply.
Colossians 2:2- Christ is all
sufficient, all satisfying. In him are hidden all the treasures of knowledge.
Let’s look
at 5 things Paul talks about. The goal of Paul’s life is to know Christ. Romans 3:20-23- the law makes us
conscious of sin. No one can keep the whole law. But when we come to Jesus we
get a righteousness that comes by believing. So we get salvation because of Jesus.
1.
Know
Christ- verse 10. This year, let’s grow deeper in knowing Christ.
2. Righteousness
3.
There is a power
available to us in our time of need.
4.
The fellowship of sharing in his suffering. We can pray in our pain and that draws us
close to him. As we suffer we remember him in his suffering.
5.
One day we will pass away. But when you are in Christ,
our last breath on earth is our first breath in heaven. And when Christ
returns, we will have resurrection
bodies. We will live with the Lord forever.
Let’s devote our lives. We could be caught up
in so many other things, but let’s have an ambition to know him more.
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