Your Plan for Handling Persecution--1 Peter 4:12-19 (1 Peter Series)

            On this day when we celebrate a young man’s baptism, it may seem odd that we are about to take a look at a passage on dealing with persecution. But there is a connection between these things – allow me to explain.

            For many people throughout history and around the world today, their baptism is a moment that invites persecution from their friends and family. When people convert to Christianity out of some other religion, their baptism is often seen as the moment when they are making their break from their former religion official. They have trusted in Christ prior to that, of course, but their friends and family might be willing to tolerate their faith as just some quirky opinions. But when these brothers and sisters are baptized, they often find themselves facing the brunt of hostility from their friends and family.

            The attitude that one expresses in baptism – this desire to be known as a follower of Christ – is an attitude that will bring persecution to each one of us at some point in time. It may be the loss of a friendship, or it may be insults and slander, but as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

            We all must be prepared, then, to face persecution. In 1 Peter 4:12-19, we find a condensed version of Peter’s teaching in this book about how to handle persecution. In this passage, we can break down his plan into four phases.

Phase 1—Expect persecution (v. 12)

            This is not to say that we need to live in constant fear or dread, but we just need to keep ahold of the realization that at some point, someone is not going to like a decision that you make on the basis of your faith, and they’re going to let you know about it—perhaps in subtle ways, like avoiding you, or perhaps in obvious ways, like insulting you or making life hard for you. Notice what Peter writes in v. 12 [READ v. 12].

            The point is that we simply need to remember that persecution will come our way in this world that is in rebellion against God. If we don’t remember that, then we might be caught off guard by it and be ill-prepared to handle it. But by keeping the possibility in mind, we won’t be taken by surprise.

Phase 2—Rejoice during persecution (vv. 13-14)

            This commandment always seems at least a little bit counterintuitive, but Peter gives us three solid reasons as to why we should rejoice when we face persecution.

1. You’re being associated with Christ

            [READ v. 13a] That’s a very interesting way for Peter to word this thought. Obviously, you and I are the ones who are here physically on earth enduring the suffering, but notice how Peter states that the sufferings really belong to Christ. When people persecute you, even though they don’t understand this, their real target is not you but Christ who is in you.

            Jesus takes it personally when we are persecuted for being known by his name. When he appeared to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, the first thing that the Lord said was, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Now, Saul hadn’t been chasing Jesus all over the countryside because Jesus was no longer on the earth – he had already returned to heaven. But as Saul persecuted Christians, Jesus took it so personally that he could say, “Why are you persecuting me?”

            So when you are persecuted, not only are your persecutors associating you with Christ, but Christ himself is as well! He identifies with you; he is on your side and in your corner.

2. You will be rewarded for facing persecution

            Let’s finish verse 13 now [READ v. 13]. Our rejoicing at the revelation of Christ’s glory is not only from the fact that we will see Christ, but also because we will receive the rewards that he has promised to those who are faithful despite persecution.

            As Peter penned these words, I have to think that he had Matthew 5:11-12 in his mind: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

            If God chooses to let you face persecution in this life, He will more than make up for it in the life to come. Because you have been associated with Christ in persecution, you will also be associated with him in his glorious reign, and you will be given a position of honor and authority in his future Millennial Kingdom on Earth.

3. It is confirmation of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life

            Jesus noted in Matthew 5 that if you are persecuted, you are just like the Old Testament prophets – men through whom the Holy Spirit spoke. If you are persecuted today, it is confirmation that the Holy Spirit is upon you as well [READ v. 14].

            And so, as strange as it might sound, we can rejoice in persecution for these reasons. The whole experience reminds us that we are in good company – the company of none other than Jesus Christ himself – and we will be his trusted companions in his future kingdom as well.

Phase 3—Evaluate the cause of your troubles (vv. 15-18)

            Sometimes we might face anger and rejection from other people simply because we’ve brought it on ourselves – not because they’re lashing out at the Spirit of Christ within us. For example, when the members of the Westboro Baptist Church face insults and anger for displaying their hateful signs, I really don’t think they could call that persecution. It seems that they themselves are acting in hatred, so when they face hatred and return, they are simply reaping what they themselves have sown.

            So we should consider whether we have brought this trouble upon ourselves through our own behavior. Look at verses 15 and 16 [READ vv. 15-16]. This is one of the only times in the New Testament where we find this word “Christian.” That title has an interesting origin, because it was actually coined by unbelievers who used it as an insult toward followers of Christ. Eventually, that title became a badge of honor to our brothers and sisters for the reasons we just mentioned – it reminded them that they were being lumped together with Christ! So today, it has become the most common title that we use to identify ourselves as followers of Jesus.

            So if you can look at your trouble with others and say that it truly is coming because of your Christian faith, then you can conclude that it is part of the testing and assessing that God is putting us through. Peter reminds us of this process in the first part of verse 17 [READ v. 17a].

            When you hear the word judgment here, don’t think of the words “condemnation” or “punishment.” Remember, a judgment is only a bad thing if you’re on the wrong side of it! In verse 12, Peter reminded us that these fiery trials come upon us to test us, and all the way back in chapter 1, Peter argued that the tested genuineness of our faith is even more precious than pure gold, and it will bring us praise, glory, and honor when Christ returns.

            So God allows us to face persecution to test us so that he might reward us later on. And so his testing and assessing of us has a positive motivation – to make us fit to win the prize of future rewards. But for those who do not believe, God’s judgment of them will have a much different outcome [READ vv. 17-18].

            Verse 18 is not meant to make us question our salvation or something like that. Rather, it’s an argument that if we are saved in spite of what we actually deserve, what will become of those who actually get what they deserve because they refused to accept salvation through Christ. It is a very sobering thought!

Phase 4—Entrust yourself to God and do good (v. 19)

            I’ve said before that verse 19 could be seen as Peter’s entire message in a nutshell [READ v. 19]. It is sometimes God’s plan for us to face persecution, because when we respond to it well, we end up with something that is even more valuable than pure gold – a refined faith, for which we will be rewarded.

            So when we find ourselves in those moments, we can remember that God has it all under control. He knows what he’s up to, and he is seeking to give us something that is more valuable than we will probably even realize in this lifetime. So we don’t have to take matters into our own hands when we are persecuted. We can entrust ourselves to him and simply focus on continuing to do good – even to those who are doing evil to us!

            We can entrust ourselves to God in this way because he is exactly as this verse describes him. First of all, he is faithful. He will always keep his word, so if he says he will reward us for facing persecution, you can take it to the bank! If he says that tested faith is more valuable than pure gold, you can believe that and safely act that way.

            Second, he is the Creator. Among other things, this fact means that he is in charge. He is in charge of my life and of your life and of the lives of those who may persecute us. Even if they seem to have some power to make life miserable for us, they still are not in control. God is in control, so he is the one whom we must respect and obey more than any man.

            God is so kind to give us all that we need to know in order to handle persecution. He has warned us about it ahead of time so that we are not caught off-guard by it. He has told us what he seeks to accomplish through it, so we know that it is part of his plan. He has told us that he will reward us for enduring it faithfully, so we have that incentive among others to drive us toward obedience in those moments. And he reminds us in so many ways that he is in control over all. So let us entrust all of this to him, and on our part, let us simply continue to focus on doing what is good.

Persecution: A Badge of Honor--Sermon on the Mount Series

            In the early 1900’s, a man organizing an exploratory journey to the South Pole is said to have placed an ad in a newspaper that read like this: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” There’s nothing quite like the truth, huh? I suppose that captain could always tell his crew, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

            Throughout the Gospels, we see a similar honesty from Jesus concerning the troubles that his followers could expect to suffer because of their testimony for him. With apologies to Joel Osteen, if Jesus had been a published author, he certainly would not have entitled his book, “Your Best Life Now.” Jesus consistently told his closest followers that following him would result in suffering in the here-and-now. Consider just a few examples:

·         Matthew 16:24-25—“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

·         Matthew 24:9—“…they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

·         John 15:20—“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

Of all the statements Jesus ever made, perhaps none have been proven true with more consistency than statements like these about persecution. The history of Christianity has been written in the blood of men and women who have faced hatred simply because they have faithfully followed Jesus Christ. Even today, one organization estimates that 100 million Christians around the world are being persecuted for their faith—and that number doesn’t even include people like you and me, who may not face violence because of our faith, but may still face insults and other forms of rejection.

But predictions about persecution were not Jesus’ only words on this subject. In fact, we will see in the Beatitudes today that Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who face persecution for him, and we’ll find out why as we take a closer look at Matthew 5:10-12 [READ Matthew 5:10-12]. Let’s break down these verses by talking through three questions that will help us get to the heart of the matter.

WHY IS THE PERSECUTION MENTIONED HERE TAKING PLACE?

            We should note that Jesus is not talking in these verses about suffering we may face from a health problem or from world events like a tornado, a drought, or a downturn in the economy. I do think we will be blessed if we maintain a good testimony in those events, but that simply is not what Jesus is talking about at this time. He is thinking specifically about moments in which we become a target for the hatred of others because we are living by his standards and proclaiming his message.

            It is easy to think that we in the United States really don’t face persecution for our faith, and I will admit that the rejection we face does seem like nothing compared to Christians in other parts of the world who face imprisonment or death because of their faith. But notice that in v. 11, Jesus mentions examples of persecution like insults, slander, and gossip. Those are precisely the forms of persecution that we are most likely to face in our lives today, so I think these verses are more directly applicable to us than we might think.

            We should also note that Jesus would not be talking about times where we might face hostility for representing him in a way that’s just downright obnoxious! Sometimes we find ourselves in heated conversations about religion where we lose our cool or act with arrogance and a lack of love. We may be insulted by others in those moments, but that’s not really persecution—that’s just a case of people responding with the same attitude that we displayed through our tone of voice or choice of words or our actions.

So, I am a target of persecution only if someone makes me the target of their hatred because they see the character of Christ in me.

HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?

            It is never a pleasant experience to be the target of someone’s anger for any reason, so how should we respond when we find ourselves being persecuted for our faith? The Lord’s answer is very clear—“rejoice and be glad!” That sounds strange enough, but wait ‘til you get a load of this—the Greek verb translated “be glad” really encourages expressions of gladness. One Greek dictionary says it conveys gladness that often involves verbal expression and appropriate body movement. In other words, we’re talking about doing a touchdown dance!

Now why in the world would we respond this way to something as unpleasant as persecution?

WHY SHOULD WE RESPOND THIS WAY?

1. We have a great reward to look forward to

            This is why we can have such joy and gladness during persecution despite the pain of the moment. All persecution hurts, whether you face insults, slander, abuse, or even death, but Jesus is not calling us to some sadistic love of pain or even to a denial of the pain of the moment. He is simply calling us to change our perspective from the present to the future; to lift our eyes from the suffering of the moment to the satisfaction that will be ours down the road. Enduring persecution in a God-honoring way today will produce benefits for us in heaven.

            We have already talked about this concept of rewards in some of the earlier Beatitudes. Now sometimes it sounds “unspiritual”—almost selfish—to think about obeying God with the motive of receiving a reward, but the Bible actually leads us to the opposite conclusion. Hebrews 11 says that Moses made the choice to stand up for his people “because he was looking to the reward (Heb 11:26).” The Apostle Paul wrote that he presses on toward a deeper knowledge of Christ “for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14).” In the very next verse he wrote, “Let those of us who are mature think this way!”

            So its actually a sign of maturity to be motivated by the rewards that God promises. And why is that? Because it reveals that we believe the promises of God! So we can celebrate when we face persecution because the experience produces a reward for us which we will claim when we one day see the Lord.

We can also respond to persecution with joy because…

2. We are in great company

            Jesus reminded His audience in Matthew 5:12 that the Old Testament prophets faced persecution for speaking up for God. Those men were godly men, faithful servants, and it is an honor to be placed in the same category as them even if we’re placed there because we face similar persecution.

            Hebrews 11:32-38 contains a description of the accomplishments and the sufferings of the prophets. Why don’t you look at that passage with me? [READ Heb 11:32-38]. I think the parenthetical statement of v. 38 says it best—these were men of whom the world was not worthy. Now in some ways, we’d rather not be in a group like that because of what they had to suffer. That’s okay on one level because we’re never told to seek for persecution. But if it comes to us, we find ourselves in the company of people of whom the Bible says the world was not worthy.

            This is why we can have such great joy and gladness even in the midst of persecution. We can look to the past and see ourselves stepping into the company of great men, and we can look to the future and see the reward from God that awaits us. Its really all about a change of perspective, isn’t it?

            John Chrysostom provides us with a great example of the perspective that we should have during persecution. Chrysostom was a pastor in Constantinople in the late 300’s AD, and his faithful gospel preaching got him into trouble with the Roman Emperor. At one point, he was called before the Emperor because he had denounced the Emperor’s wife, and he was threatened with banishment if he did not recant his statements:

            “Sire,” he replied, “you cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.”

            “Then I will slay you!”

            “No, you cannot, for my life is hidden with Christ in God.”

            “Then your treasures will be confiscated!”

            “Sire, that cannot be, either. My treasures are in heaven, where no one can break through and steal.”

            “Then I will drive you from men and you will have no friends left!”

            “You cannot do that either, for I have a friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”

What a difference our perspective can make!

            Allow me to close our time now with a couple of thoughts on the application of these verses to our lives. There is some irony in the fact that this statement “blessed are those who are persecuted” comes directly after the statement “blessed are the peacemakers.” We might think that if we’re trying to live at peace with others, we won’t face persecution. If only that were true! But this statement about persecution reminds us of the tremendous importance of living at peace with each other in the church.

            We’re not all that surprised when we face insults and rejection from people outside of church. In fact, the Apostle Paul told his young assistant, Timothy, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12).” We’re going to face it in some form, but when we face insults and rejection from people inside our own church, the pain can be almost unbearable. After all, where else can we turn to find love and acceptance? If we do not have peace with each other, our great temptation then is to make our peace with the world. It is very tempting at that point to stop living an obedient Christian life just to feel acceptance from someone, even if it comes from people who do not hold Christian values.

            Our church should be like an oasis from the rejection that we face in the world. That is why we must be peacemakers, as Jesus said. On so many levels, we simply cannot afford to fight with each other.

            Finally, as we take some measure of comfort in the fact that we rarely face the most severe forms of persecution in our country, let us never forget that many of our brothers and sisters around the world cannot say the same. Many Christians at this moment face imprisonment, physical abuse, and even death because of their faith. In Hebrews 13:3, we are commanded to remember our brothers and sisters: “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” There are a number of good organizations today that work to help us remember the plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters. I would recommend to you The Voice of the Martyrs—you can find out more about their work at www.persecution.com. Let us remember to pray for our Christian family.

"What Goes Around, Comes Around"--Sermon on the Mount Series

            Some people may think the word “Coolidge” is a new slang term, but if you’ve reviewed your presidential history lately, you’ll remember that Calvin Coolidge was our 30^th President (he served during most of the 1920’s). A story is told of how Coolidge was burglarized one night while he was staying in a hotel. He was sound asleep, but was awoken by the sound of a man going through his belongings. He was understandably startled, but he told the man he didn’t want any trouble and simply asked him not to take the chain on his pocket watch because it was special to him.

            Coolidge then noticed that the man was rather young and actually started to ask him about his life. The robber told him that he was a college student on a trip and had simply run out of money, so he was stealing to pay for his hotel bill and a ticket back to campus. The President then proceeded to give the man the money he needed and told him to consider it a loan. He also told the man he had better leave the way he came in so as to avoid the Secret Service!¹ (I hope they’re a little better at their job today!)

            It is easy to admire a man in a position of power who nevertheless chooses to show compassion to others. It is said that power corrupts, and far too often we have seen that statement proven true. But I think that’s why we admire people who can hold power in one hand, yet still extend compassion with the other.

            That is the idea of showing mercy, and mercy is the quality that Jesus blesses in the next Beatitude—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (Matt 5:7).” Let’s talk about the message of this verse, and then we’ll focus on some specific situations in which we may have the opportunity to show mercy.

“BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL…”

            An act of mercy is very similar to an act of compassion—there is just one important difference. An act of compassion is an act of kindness that you perform for someone else because you have seen them in a position of need and you’ve been moved to help alleviate that need. Compassion can be shown by anyone to anyone else—that’s actually what makes it different from mercy.

            Mercy is an act of compassion that is done by someone in authority to a person who is under their authority. Mercy and compassion are identical in many ways, the only difference is in the relationship between the two people who are involved. Its hard enough to show compassion to others because we all struggle with selfishness, but when an authority structure is introduced into a relationship, the degree of difficulty is raised to a whole new level.

            If you have siblings, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It was hard enough to get along with each other under normal circumstances, but what happened when your parents went out for a while and left one of you in charge? All kinds of havoc broke loose! When there’s an authority structure in a relationship, it introduces all kinds of new temptations. Now there is the temptation to abuse your authority, or to rebel against the person in authority over you. There may be new temptations toward pride or resentment.

            That’s why we admire people who show mercy. They demonstrate that they have not allowed power to warp their character, but they are still capable of extending compassion to others. And of course, mercy is something that God has extended to us, so when we show mercy, we are imitating God—which is something that Scripture repeatedly calls us to do.

Now, many of us may think that we’re not in any position of power over others, but in just a moment I’m going to mention some situations that you may not have considered. For now, let’s talk about the second half of this verse.

“…FOR THEY SHALL RECEIVE MERCY.”

            It seems here that it literally goes without saying that the merciful shall receive mercy from God. There is no guarantee that you will be shown mercy by other people simply because you have shown mercy yourself, so it seems clear that Jesus means the merciful shall receive mercy from God. This becomes even more apparent when we encounter two similar statements later on in the Sermon on the Mount:

·         Matthew 6:14-15—“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

·         Matthew 7:1-2—“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

All of these statements teach us that God will deal with us in the same way that we deal with other people.

            Now this observation brings up a question that we need to address—is Jesus saying that showing mercy is a requirement for getting into Heaven? Many people have that question when they read this verse, and I think it reveals to us how important it is to incorporate the doctrine of rewards for Christians into our thinking. If we fail to incorporate the doctrine of rewards into our thinking, we end up tying everything that sounds good in the Bible with going to Heaven and everything that sounds bad with going to Hell. With that mindset, we end up reading Matthew 5:7 like this—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall go to Heaven.” But that creates all kinds of confusion for us because we think, “I thought going to Heaven was a gift and we don’t receive it through our works, but this verse seems to say that I have to show mercy to get into Heaven—and that sounds like works!”

            What we must understand from Scripture is that within God’s grand plan called “salvation,” there is a gift and a reward (or perhaps I should say a gift then an offer of reward). If we fail to distinguish between those things, we will have no end of confusion when we try to understand Scripture. When we encounter this confusion, we need to take a step back and say, “Is this referring to the gift or the reward?”

            I think Matthew 5:7 is most definitely referring to the reward. Let me point you to a passage of Scripture that offers an important commentary on this verse. Turn with me to James 2:12-13. Here James is writing to people whom he has repeatedly called “brothers,” and in 2:1 he refers to their faith in “our” Lord Jesus Christ. Then in 2:12-13, he writes about the judgment that we as Christians will face in the light of God’s Word for our rewards. He states [READ James 2:12-13]. The first part of v. 13 expresses the same basic idea as Matthew 5:7, just from a negative perspective instead of a positive one, but the last part of the verse—mercy triumphs over judgment—expresses the same thought as our Beatitude.

            That statement—mercy triumphs over judgment—should give us tremendous comfort. When I think about having my life evaluated by Jesus, I don’t get very optimistic about a good outcome. When Scripture tells me that I will give an answer for every word that I have spoken and every deed that I have done, and when James in chapter 3 says that teachers of the Word will receive a stricter judgment, I have little hope to hear “well done, good and faithful servant.”

            But just as God’s grace and mercy were poured out when He declared me righteous and adopted me into His family, there will be grace and mercy available on that day, and apparently I will receive mercy from Jesus to the degree that I have shown mercy to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment! We do have hope for a good evaluation; we do have the opportunity to have a positive assessment because we are dealing with a merciful Lord, and He has said that we will receive mercy if we will show mercy to others.

WHAT ARE SOME SITUATIONS WHEN ANOTHER PERSON IS IN YOUR POWER?

            Now as I have said, mercy is shown from a person in a position of power to someone who is under their power. Given that definition, many of us may think, “Well, I don’t really have any opportunities to show mercy then, because I’m not in any position of power!” Let me mention some situations that you may not have considered.

1. When someone has sinned against you and has asked for your forgiveness

            Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way, but when someone wrongs you and then asks for your forgiveness, you are placed in a position of power. They have admitted their guilt, and now the future of that relationship is in your hand. You can choose to forgive or you can choose to hold a grudge or to take revenge. They have humbled themselves before you, and now—at least in that moment—you are in the driver’s seat. That is a position of power, which means it is also a perfect opportunity to show mercy.

2. In your relationship with your children

            While your children are in your home, they are commanded by God to obey you. Thus, you are in a position of power. So how do you exercise that power? Are you reasonable with your rules and your discipline? Do you treat your kids like they exist for your benefit, rather than the other way around? Do you berate, dictate, manipulate, castigate, or otherwise dominate your child? How do you exercise that power?

3. In your relationship with your employees

            Even if you’re not the head honcho where you work, many of us have people who answer to us on the job. How do you exercise that power? Many of you who farm have hired men who work for you—how do you treat them? Do you give them a fair wage? Do you make them work hours that you would never keep yourself? If money gets tight, is your hired man the only one who has to take a pay cut, or do you absorb some of that as well? How do you exercise that power?

HOW CAN WE CULTIVATE A MERCIFUL SPIRIT?

            Now as I also mentioned earlier, being in a position of power brings additional temptations into our lives. Its hard enough to show compassion to someone who is our equal in every sense, so when you add an authority structure into a relationship, it just becomes that much more difficult. So how can we cultivate a merciful spirit?

1. By reflecting on the incredible degree of mercy that we have received from God

            You may remember the parable that Jesus told about the man who was forgiven a debt that was like the size of our US national debt—just a mind-blowing amount that you can’t even wrap your head around. Then that man turned around and punished someone who owed him a few weeks’ pay. The lesson of the parable is that such a lack of mercy is improper in light of the staggering mercy that we have received. The misdemeanors that people commit against us are nothing compared to the outright treason that we have committed against God, yet He has shown us mercy. We can increasingly reflect this mercy in our actions by reflecting on it in our own minds.

2. By walking in the shoes of those under your authority

            I want to point you to a fascinating passage of Scripture in Hebrews 2 [READ Heb. 2:14-18]. By walking around in our skin and facing the temptations that we face, Jesus became a merciful and faithful high priest—a representative for us in the presence of God. Verse 17 says he had to be made like us in every respect, so that he might become a merciful high priest.

            Developing a spirit of mercy requires that you walk around in the skin of those who are under your authority. You must make an effort to mentally step into their world and take a look around. Mercy is an act of compassion, and the literal meaning of the word compassion is “to suffer with someone else.” When you show compassion, you are coming side-by-side with another person to walk down the same path together.

            Power has the tendency to create distance between people. It can lift my ego higher and higher as my opinion of others gets lower and lower. Thus, to show mercy, we have to swim against the current of that tendency and step into the world of those who are under our power.

            So to show mercy to someone who has wronged you, remember how you feel when you’re in their shoes. What do you desire? What’s going through your mind? To become more merciful with your kids, ask yourself, “What must it be like to have a parent like me?” Maybe the next time your child gets frustrated with you, you’ll think, “Wow! You’ve actually shown a lot of patience, kid!” Show greater mercy to people under you on the job by trying to understand what their experience must be like. What must it be like to have you as a boss?

            In short, to become merciful we must act like Jesus! He has shown us mercy, so we must show mercy to others. He became a merciful high priest by walking around in our shoes, so we must follow the same path to grow in this trait.

Notes:

1. www.bible.org, filed in Sermon Illustrations under “mercy,” cited from Today in the Word, October 8, 1992.

Satisfaction for the Soul--Sermon on the Mount Series

            After our need for air, no need is more essential for life than our need for food and water. We cannot let these needs go unmet for long before we start to have serious problems. We also plan much of our lives around meeting these needs. Your daily schedule probably revolves around meal times. Every time we plan some kind of special event at church, we must either plan to provide a meal or plan to avoid mealtimes so that you can take care of that need on your own. Or think about planning a vacation—if you’re driving, you plan your route and your travel time to make sure that you’re near a town when mealtimes roll around. Otherwise, you plan ahead and take food with you.

            Imagine if we gave the same kind of concern to obeying God. Imagine if we woke up every day and thought, “How am I going to plan to obey God today?” You and I have never lived a day in which we didn’t think about eating and drinking, because they are needs; they are necessary for survival. Imagine if we thought of obeying God as being necessary for our survival.

            That’s the kind of attitude and passion for obedience that Jesus praises in the next Beatitude—“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matt 5:6).” The Lord uses the metaphor of a physical need to encourage us to have a spiritual appetite. Let’s look at the two parts of this verse.

“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS…”

            To truly appreciate this metaphor, we have to travel back in time for a minute. The way that we meet our need for food and water today is vastly different than it was for the people in first-century Israel who heard Jesus speak these words. Few of us have ever experienced a life-threatening hunger or thirst. Most of us have far more than enough to eat and far more than enough to drink, and we have very easy access to food and water, but life was very different back then.

            Imagine waking up one day as a person in first-century Israel. To meet your family’s need for water that day, you would have to take a bucket and go down to the river—or more likely to the local well—and haul water back to your home. Perhaps you would make that trip a couple of times, depending on the size of your family. Don’t forget that parasites in that water could kill you, so you may have to build a fire and boil some of it before you could drink it.

            By then, it would be time to get to work cooking food, because after all, you have to do everything yourself. If you want to make bread, you have to grind the flour. If you want to eat chicken, you have to butcher it and prepare it yourself. For at least one member of the household, then, cooking would have been a virtually continuous occupation.

            So for those who heard Jesus speak these words, hunger and thirst were typically a much more urgent need than what we experience most of the time. We can afford to let our need for food and water be almost an afterthought because we can easily run to Subway and have food and drink in front of us in a matter of minutes. But for the first-century Jew, meeting those needs required a great deal of thought, planning, and effort, and their daily reality was far closer to the line between starvation and survival. Author William Barclay put it well when he wrote, “the hunger which this beatitude describes is no…hunger which could be satisfied with a mid-morning snack; the thirst of which it speaks is no thirst which could be quenched with a cup of coffee or an iced drink. It is the hunger of someone who is starving for food, and the thirst of someone who will die unless given something to drink.”¹

            Hopefully now we have a sense of the urgency and intensity in these words “hunger and thirst.” But what is “righteousness?” What is this thing that we’re supposed to long for with such intensity? A basic definition of righteousness would be “that which meets God’s standards.” When the Bible talks about our righteousness, it describes it from two angles.

            First, there is our position of righteousness. This angle refers to our standing before God in light of His commands. To be righteous in this sense means that no case can be made against me in light of God’s commands. This position of righteousness is what we refer to when we use words like conversion, being saved, being born again, being forgiven, or accepting Christ (if you know the big, fancy theological word, this is justification).

            Let me illustrate what I mean. If you looked right now at the laws of the state of Kansas and then examined my life, you could not bring any charges against me or make any case against me because I haven’t broken any laws. That means I am righteous in the eyes of the state of Kansas; I have met the state’s standards for a law-abiding citizen.

            Now I must confess that it hasn’t always been that way. I have received some speeding tickets in my day, and at those times I have broken the law. In those instances, I did not meet the standards for a law-abiding citizen and I had to pay a fine, but once I did, the case against me was closed and I again became righteous in the eyes of the state of Kansas.

            Now according to Scripture, when we receive the gift of salvation from God, He treats us as being righteous in light of His law or commands because He accepts the sacrifice that Jesus made for us as the payment of the fine (so to speak) for all of our sins. This reality is described well in 2 Corinthians 5:21, which says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Don’t miss what this verse is saying. Even though Jesus had never committed a sin, God treated Him like a sinner when He was on the cross. He took our punishment in that moment so that now, after we accept Christ, God can treat us like righteous people, even though we don’t deserve that status simply on the basis of our own lives. So, because Jesus took what we deserved from God, we receive what He deserves from God—that is our position of righteousness.

            But the Bible then goes on to describe righteousness from the angle of our practice of righteousness. This angle refers to our efforts to live in obedience to God’s commands. After we are saved and we receive that position of righteousness as a gift, we can then actually obey God’s commands through the power of the Holy Spirit. This practice of righteousness is what we refer to when we use words like discipleship, walking with Christ, growing in Christ (or sanctification).

            This angle is described well in 2 Timothy 2:22, when Paul tells Timothy—who is already saved—to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” So Timothy, who has the position of righteousness before God, is challenged to live out that righteousness in his life.

            I believe this second angle on righteousness is what Jesus had in mind in this Beatitude. We who are forgiven by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit should hunger and thirst to live in a way that meets God’s standards. The desire to obey God should create hunger pangs in our soul that will not subside until we have met the desire. The Lord pronounces a blessing upon those who have this desire by saying, “they shall be satisfied.”

“…FOR THEY SHALL BE SATISFIED.”

            I don’t think its difficult to understand what Jesus means here. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will receive what they desire—approval from God that they have lived by His standards. We can have this knowledge today as we live for the Lord, but it will be most evident when we stand before Jesus to hear His assessment of our lives. The New Testament makes it very clear that each one of us will be assessed or judged by the Lord Jesus to receive either reward or rebuke from Him (or quite possible some of each!). 2 Corinthians 5:10 states, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

            1 Corinthians 3 talks about building on the foundation we have in Jesus Christ, and it states, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Cor 3:13-15). As one pastor has put it, there are going to be some smoky Christians in Heaven! When you are evaluated by Christ, do you want to come out smelling like roses, or smelling like you were standing too close to the campfire?

            If I want to avoid seeing my life’s work for God go up in smoke, I need to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I must have an arresting passion to obey God that will not leave me alone until I have addressed it. Obeying God cannot be an afterthought in my life, just like food and water could not be an afterthought for the people who heard Jesus speak these words.

            Along this line, I think the scenario I raised earlier is most appropriate—imagine if we woke up every day and thought, “How am I going to plan to obey God today?” I have this appetite to obey God that just won’t leave me alone—how am I going satisfy it? Now when you envision this scenario, you can easily become overwhelmed. Just think of how many commands there are in the New Testament! Here’s what I want you to do—I want you to use this question (How am I going to plan to obey God today?) and simply focus on the commands that present you with the greatest struggle. Focus on the area where you have the most obvious need for growth.

            Its probably not difficult for any of us to pinpoint our area of greatest struggle. Once you’ve settled on that, look up the commands in the Bible that deal with that particular issue, and then let that become—for right now at least—your primary focus. When you ask yourself, “How am I going to plan to obey God today?” make your planning specific to that issue, because here’s what’s going to happen—as you grow in that area, your growth will bear fruit in all areas of your life. A rising tide raises ALL of the boats in the dock, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a very similar effect that takes place when you grow spiritually.

            Its kind of like learning how to play a musical instrument. When you learn how to play an instrument—say the piano, for instance—there are times when you will spend most of your practice time focusing on just one song. On one level, that may seem silly; after all, after you’ve put out all that time and effort, you will still only know how to play one song. But here’s what you discover—when you start to look at other songs, they are easier for you to play. You discover that your fingers are stronger and more flexible. All of the progress you made in that one song now carries over into many other songs.

            Spiritual growth is very similar. When you learn to walk closely with God in one area of your life, it will create a ripple effect that spreads into other areas of your life. That’s why Paul talked about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 rather than the fruits. Have you ever noticed that? Paul says “the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is…” We would expect some kind of singular after that, wouldn’t we? But Paul goes on to list nine character traits—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

            The reason for this is that all of these traits are tied together. If you grow in love, you will also see growth in the area of self-control. If you grow in patience, you will also see growth in the area of gentleness. You will never find a loving person who completely lacks kindness, or a patient person who completely lacks self-control. These traits fit together, and as you grow in one, you will see some growth in the others as well.

            So please don’t feel overwhelmed when you think about having a passion to obey God that is like an essential need for survival. I’m not saying this is easy, because we have the Devil and our own sinful desires working against us, but we don’t need to make it more complicated than it really is. A pebble only hits the surface of a lake in one place, but the ripples that it creates can be far-reaching.

            Start today with a narrow focus on growing, and when the difficulties and temptations do come, we have the promise of approval from Jesus to carry us along. It will be worth it in the long run to remain faithful to Him. Let us pray now for the faith to believe that!

Notes:

1. William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 115.

Written Into the Will--Sermon on the Mount Series

            I’ve always enjoyed the scene in the movie “Cast Away” when Tom Hanks’ character learns to make fire after getting stranded on a deserted island. He dances around his bonfire a bit, then sticks out his chest and says, “I have made fire!!” I can just picture myself doing the same thing.

            Fire has all kinds of beneficial uses. We can cook with it, heat our homes with it, sanitize things with it, even use it to clear land. Of course, it can also be very destructive. It can burn down our homes or run wild across the prairie. So what’s the difference? The fire is exactly the same whether its heating my home or burning it down! The difference is whether it is under control. When we use fire for good things, we harness its power by keeping it in proper boundaries. We channel its heat and energy for a specific purpose. Fire only becomes destructive when it breaks out of those proper boundaries and channels.

            In our study of the Beatitudes today, Jesus is going to praise a character trait called “meekness,” which we can describe as strength of character, properly channeled. The Lord pronounces God’s approval upon meekness in Matthew 5:5, which says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Here is yet another statement from Christ which turns the wisdom of our age upside down.

I saw that very clearly in a moment during my early teenage years—it’s a moment I wish I could do over. I was over at a friend’s house around the 4^th of July. They had some other family friends over, and somehow the conversation got around to the fact that I was a Christian. Once that became known, a middle-aged man looked at me and said, “Do you really believe all that stuff about the meek inheriting the earth?” Now at that point in my life, I probably hadn’t spent five seconds thinking about that verse, so I had no idea what to say. I wish I had said something like, “I’ll have to look into that one some more,” but instead I just grinned, hung my head a little bit, and said, “Nah, I guess not.”

            I never found out why that man mentioned that particular verse, but the fact that he did illustrates just how crazy Jesus’ words sound to people who don’t believe the Bible. What do you mean the meek are going to inherit the earth? Plenty of people have tried to conquer the whole world, and no one has done it yet. Do you mean that the meek are going to do something that the mighty have never been able to do? Well, we shall see what Jesus means.

In this Beatitude, Jesus begins to talk about the way that we interact with other people. In the first Beatitude, He spoke of the way that we think about ourselves with respect to God; in the second, He spoke of the way that we respond to our sins. Now, Jesus starts to mention the way that we interact with other people. This observation is a great reminder that each part of my life should be tied to every other part of my life. That’s truly what it means to have integrity—your life is a unified whole; you have the same way of thinking and the same way of acting whether you’re at church or home or school or work. The Beatitudes remind us of this. The way that I think about God and my condition before Him is directly tied to the way that I treat other people.

Let’s discuss the two halves of this verse.

“BLESSED ARE THE MEEK…”

            If you can remember the last time you used the word “meek,” you have a better memory than I do. I fill out character references for people every so often, and none of them ever ask me to rate how meek a person is! This is a word that people rarely use any more, so why do Bible translators use it—especially in a very recent translation like the English Standard Version that I use?

            Here’s a good lesson to remember about Bible translations: translators tend to stick to the dictionary much more closely than we do. When we speak to each other, we don’t stand there with dictionaries in our hands! We have a basic idea of what words mean, and for the most part we just rely on the context of the conversation to understand each other. But the people who make Bible translations can’t have a face-to-face conversation with everyone who reads them, so when they do their work, they rely on the dictionary definition of words because we all have access to a dictionary.

            In other words, Bible translators expect us to do a little homework in order to understand the Bible—and that’s exactly what they should expect of us! So, let’s take a look at the dictionary definition of “meekness.” In my dictionary, there were two possible meanings: 1) showing patience and humility; and 2) easily imposed on. The second definition is what most people think of when they hear this word. They think of someone who is a doormat; someone who is spineless; someone who never ruffles any feathers or stands up against anything. They think of Neville Chamberlain as opposed to Winston Churchill, or they think of last year’s Kansas City Chiefs—easily run over.

            But that second definition is certainly not what Jesus is talking about! He has something like the first definition in mind, and we know this because Jesus elsewhere uses this word to describe Himself. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus tells His followers, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” That word translated “gentle” is the same Greek word that is translated “meek” in Matthew 5:5.

            So Jesus is saying, “Blessed are those who are like me!” Now what was Jesus like? Was He a doormat? Was He spineless? Certainly not! Jesus became angry with people who showed no compassion to others, and He was willing to correct people who were doing wrong and to issue stern warnings to people who heard Him. On two occasions, He chased people out of the Temple with a whip after they had violated God’s intentions for that holy place.

            And yet, Jesus must have had a very approachable demeanor. Little children were not afraid to come to Him; lepers and beggars were confident that Jesus would not turn up His nose at them. The fact that He came to Earth at all speaks of love and humility. Jesus had strength of character, properly channeled.

            Scripture also gives us other examples of people who fit this description. Numbers 12:3 says, “Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Moses twice held incredible power in palm of his hand, yet did not abuse it. The first occasion came as he was growing up in Pharaoh’s household. He may have been in line to become the Pharaoh himself, but he chose to take up the cause of his oppressed relatives, and he had to flee for his life for many years.

            The second occasion came after God used him to free the children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. God performed incredible miracles through Moses. He could have easily declared himself king of his people, but he never did. In fact, when his father-in-law suggested that he share some of his judging responsibilities because he was getting worn out, Moses willingly agreed. He did not jealousy cling to every ounce of power that he could get his hands on.

            Yet Moses also acted decisively in the name of God when it was necessary. I think about the incident with the golden calf. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments from God, he found the people worshipping an idol that they had made. The text says that he melted the idol down, ground up the gold into dust, scattered it onto a source of water and made the people drink it. Moses had strength of character, properly channeled.

            I also think of Abigail in 1 Samuel. Abigail was married to a fool; her husband was Nabal, which literally means “fool.” Yet 1 Samuel 25 says that she was discerning and had an obvious faith in God. She was apparently a good wife to her husband, even though he was a fool. One day, Nabal foolishly insulted David, and David foolishly decided to pick a fight with him. But Abigail diffused the situation by giving David a generous gift to smooth over her husband’s insult, and she undoubtedly saved many lives. Abigail had strength of character, properly channeled.

            So meekness is clearly an honorable trait. It must be so if the Lord Jesus referred to Himself as “meek” (or “gentle” as your translation might read). And so Jesus called the meek “blessed” because of what they have to look forward to.

“…FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.”

            It is easy and common for people to misread this statement. They read it as if Jesus had said the meek shall conquer the earth, but that’s not what He said. He said the meek shall inherit the earth. What is an inheritance? Its something you receive from the person who owns it. Let’s read the verse with that idea placed in it—“Blessed are the meek, for they shall receive the earth from the person who owns it.” And who owns the Earth? God, of course; more specifically, we could say that Jesus owns the Earth, and that will become obvious to everyone when He returns one day to set up His kingdom in this world.

            I think this phrase is saying the same thing as verse 3. We learned that when Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He was saying that the poor in spirit would share in a piece of His authority over His kingdom. A portion of it would belong to them, and they would be its caretakers for the Lord. I think Jesus is saying the same thing in in v. 5, but now He simply uses the language of receiving an inheritance.

            Most children eventually receive some kind of inheritance from their parents. Since we are children of God, we can expect to receive an inheritance from Him. When the New Testament talks about our inheritance from God, it speaks of it in two aspects. The first is a guaranteed inheritance, which will be ours simply because we are children of God. This part of our inheritance is described very well in 1 Peter 1:3-5 [READ 1 Peter 1:3-5]. Notice how Peter emphasizes the unchanging nature of this inheritance—it is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. This, I think, would refer to our future home with God. It is guaranteed to us as His children.

            But the New Testament also speaks of an inheritance that is conditional. It is not guaranteed to us, but it is available to us based on our faithful service to Christ. This is what we’re referring to when we talk about receiving rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. This conditional inheritance is expressed well in Romans 8:16-17—“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

            These verses talk about both aspects of our inheritance—we are heirs of God, and we can be fellow heirs with Christ, but notice that there is a condition we have to meet to be a fellow heir with Christ. We must suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. You might remember the statement from Jesus to the Apostles that we read a couple of weeks ago. He said to them in Luke 22:28-30—“You are those who have stayed with me in my trials [that sounds like suffering with Christ, doesn’t it? And how does Christ continue?] and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom [in other words, “this is my inheritance from the Father—a kingdom, and now I assign to you a kingdom] that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

            The Apostles will be fellow heirs with Christ, and why is that? As Jesus said, they stayed with Him in His trials. He wasn’t talking about His legal trials before Pontius Pilate because those hadn’t happened yet. He was saying that the Apostles had stuck with Him through thick and thin. We know the Apostles weren’t perfect—you barely have to read one page in the Gospels to find that out!—but despite all of their failings, they just kept following Jesus.

            There is an incident recorded in John 6 that illustrates this well. A huge crowd had come to find Jesus because the text says they wanted to make Him their king, but Jesus said some hard things to them because they were not spiritually ready to submit to Jesus as their king. At the end of the chapter, virtually the whole crowd walked away from Jesus, and Jesus turned to the Apostles and said, “Do you want to leave, too?” Peter piped up for all of them and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

            The Apostles weren’t perfect followers of Christ, but they just kept following Him! That’s what the Lord wants to see from us—He’s looking for us to keep following Him, even if its like a little child following her daddy. He wants us to say, “Lord, my steps forward may be small steps, and you may have to turn around often and say, ‘Come on, keep going this way,’ and I may get distracted by a dandelion now and then, and I may fall down and skin-up my hands and bloody-up my knees, but I’m just going to keep following you!”

            That’s the attitude the Lord wants to see, and that’s the attitude that He will reward. Its not hard to see how meekness ties into that attitude. We need to have our energy properly channeled, don’t we? We need to have our decisions properly channeled to keep us going in the right direction. We need to be like Moses; we need to be like Abigail; we need to be like Jesus! He is our spiritual “big brother,” and we will live with Him someday. And if we live our lives like He lived His life, we will share in a little bit of His inheritance from the Father—He will give us the right to serve as lords and ladies in His kingdom.

"Keep On Keepin' On"--Philippians 3:12-16

One of the sobering realities that we have to deal with as we get older is that we’re not physically capable of doing many of the things that we could do when we were younger. As we age, our bodies start to wear down—we’re not as strong as we used to be or as flexible as we used to be. But of course, we usually don’t realize this until we’re out on the softball field trying to re-live our old glory days and we end up tearing something! It seems like our minds are always about 10 years behind our bodies. Our minds remember what we could do, and they haven’t quite come to terms yet with what we can do right now!

This has all kind of hit home for me lately because I’ve been trying to build up my muscles a bit in anticipation of holding my baby. I’ve discovered from holding other babies that it can get pretty tiring after a while, so I thought I would try to beef up a little bit to prepare for my own baby. Now I’m still a young man, so—as I thought—this should still be pretty easy, right? Yeah, right! My mind is still ten years in the past—back then I could look at a set of weights and put on five pounds! But now I actually have to pick them up and work out, and not just once a week, but three or four times a week. It’s like I’m on some kind of treadmill, and if I don’t keep moving forward, I immediately start to lose ground.

You know, that same kind of feeling holds true in our relationship with God, doesn’t it? It’s hard to grow spiritually in areas where we are weak, and sometimes we let down for just a moment—maybe we give in to a temptation that we’ve said “no” to a dozen times—and suddenly its like we’ve lost all that ground that we had gained.

This morning as we study the book of Philippians, we are going to read as Paul describes the mindset that we need to have in order to keep moving forward in the Christian life, to keep growing more and more like Jesus in every way. We will also discover that there is a prize to be won by those who faithfully serve Jesus and carry out His will for their lives. What we will learn today is this:

The prize for faithfulness is won through a continuous pursuit of maturity.

I think this lesson is so important for us to take to heart, especially for churches like ours that believe in the doctrine of eternal security. According to our doctrinal statement, we believe the Bible tells us that once a person is saved, their salvation cannot be lost. In other words, once a person has placed his or her faith in Jesus and has thus received forgiveness from God and has been adopted into God’s family, that person is absolutely secure in that position; it can never be lost.

I think that is an absolutely glorious doctrine that should bring us a tremendous amount of comfort. But sometimes that doctrine can lead to an attitude that sounds something like this: “Well, it sure is nice to be saved! Now that I’ve got that settled, I guess there’s not much else to do but wait around until I can go to heaven.”

Obviously, that is a far cry from the attitude that we should have, because what we have to realize is that even after you have been saved, there is still an aspect of your future destiny that has not been settled. It doesn’t have to do with where you will spend eternity; rather, it has to do with the role that you will play after Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom on earth. There is a very real possibility that you might miss out on a reward that God wants you to have, so that is why we need to take this lesson to heart today.

Let’s read our passage for today, and then we’ll see what it has to teach us [READ 3:12–16]. Let’s study what Scripture has to tell us about pressing forward in our relationship with Christ.

I. We must continually press forward in pursuit of the prize for faithfulness (vv. 12–14)

In v. 12, Paul states that he does not feel that he had yet achieved the goal that he mentioned in v. 11, which was to know Christ intimately so that he could become part of that unique group of resurrected believers that will hear Jesus say on the day of judgment, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That was Paul’s goal, but he didn’t think he had achieved it yet, so he writes in the rest of v. 12, “but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” Paul reminds us here that when Jesus saved us, He did so with the goal that we would grow spiritually and reflect his character. Let me take you on a quick tour of the book of Ephesians and I’ll show you what I mean:

[READ Eph. 1:3–4, 2:8–9, 4:12–13, 5:25–27]

So Jesus has the goal in mind for us that we would be spiritually mature, and in v. 12 Paul says that he is “pressing on” toward that goal. The Greek word that is translated “pressing on” here has an interesting connection to Paul’s former life before he was a Christian. This word refers to running after something or chasing something, and its often used in a literal way to refer to persecuting someone. In fact, in the book of Acts when Paul described how he used to hunt down Christians to throw them in prison, he used this word. Now it obviously has a much different application for Paul, but by using it its like he’s saying, “I’ve taken the same intensity with which I used to hunt down Christians, and now I’m using it to chase after spiritual maturity.” What a word picture!

Paul’s wording tells us that spiritual growth is an active process. It is not something that you passively receive by sitting in a pew on Sunday morning. Growing spiritually is not like catching a cold—it doesn’t happen by accident. It is something that requires action on your part; an intense, focused exertion of effort to deny your own sinful desires, to take the attitude of Jesus for yourself, and to follow Him. Nor will it come through casual effort. There must be a pursuit of spiritual growth if we are to lay hold of it.

And to describe this pursuit, Paul uses the image of running a race in vv. 13–14. He writes, [READ v. 13–14]. Now, I never ran track when I was in school. I tried when I was in 7th grade, but I got shin splints after two weeks and decided I had better things to do with my time. So I may not have run track, but even I know that you don’t run a race with your head turned back, looking over your shoulder.

Paul uses this rule of running to make an important spiritual point—the proper mindset for spiritual growth is not one that is focused on the past. Focusing on our past is a distraction, a hindrance, because the goal is still on ahead of us. Like many lessons in the Christian life, I think this one is both a comfort and a challenge. I think it is a tremendous comfort because it means that we don’t have to be shackled by what we’ve done in the past. It is so easy to allow our past failures and disappointments to continue weighing us down. We allow ourselves to be haunted by the sins that we’ve committed in the past, but the glorious message of the Gospel is that those sins have been forgiven. As Rom. 8:1 says, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us,” and Micah 7:19 says that God has cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea.

So we don’t need to let our past sins continue to be a hindrance to our spiritual growth today. We don’t have to think that God can’t use us today because of what we’ve done in the past. It would have been very easy for Paul to think that way, but he chose not to. When God called him to preach almost immediately after his conversion, he could have said, “God, surely I’m not fit to do this! I was opposing you just days ago; I’m not the right one for this task.” But instead, Paul chose the perspective that he describes here—he didn’t look back, but chose instead to look ahead and press on to grow spiritually.

But this lesson also provides a challenge for us, because if our focus is not supposed to be on what we’ve done in the past, then that means we can’t rest on our past spiritual accomplishments, either. Even if we’ve been serving the Lord and growing as a Christian for years, we can’t look back and say, “Well, that’s good enough,” and then stop pressing forward to grow as a Christian.

But I fear that there is a growing trend to do just that today, especially as people approach and enter the retirement years. It seems like more and more people are also retiring from church when they retire from their jobs—not that they necessarily stop attending church, but they stop serving, they stop pressing forward in order to grow. It’s almost as if people are saying, “Well, I’ve put in my time at the church. Let’s just let the younger generations take over.” Then these folks go buy an RV and their churches hardly ever see them anymore!

If I can speak to our senior saints for just a moment, I urge you not to stop pressing forward in your spiritual growth and your service for Christ in the world and in this church. I understand you may not have the energy or the physical endurance that you used to have and that’s fine, because your physical strength isn’t your greatest asset anyway—its your wisdom! If you’ve been growing in Christ throughout your life, then you have a wisdom that these young people around you badly need. So focus on building relationships with them. Find some kids who don’t have grandparents nearby and be grandparents to them. Go to their games; buy them presents on their birthday; pray for them and then tell them how you prayed for them. Tell them what you’re asking God to do in their lives. Please don’t look back and say, “That’s good enough.” Keep pressing forward!

And for all of us as we think about how we might spend the latter years of life—let’s focus our thoughts on how we can center that time around service for Christ. Don’t focus on how you can spend the last 15, 20, or 25 years of your life focusing on yourself. Keep pressing forward, because as Paul reminds us here in v. 14, there is a prize waiting for those who will press on toward the finish line!

Over the years people have debated a bit over what Paul is talking about here in v. 14. Some people have said that he is talking about the Rapture, but that doesn’t make sense to me because of the language that Paul uses here. The Rapture is not a prize that we have to win—it is a guarantee, a promise from God for all of his children. So because Paul speaks of a prize here I think he is talking about the rewards that are held out to us in Christ’s millennial kingdom—specifically the reward of serving in a position of leadership and authority in Christ’s kingdom on earth.

I think Paul is continuing the imagery of a runner here by drawing on the picture of a victorious athlete in the Greek athletic competitions. The person who won the race would be called to appear before the judges in order to receive the prize, and I think that’s what Paul is talking about here. When he stands before God to be judged for his deeds in the Christian life, he wants to be called up to receive the prize, to hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and to serve under Jesus to reign in his kingdom.

That is why Paul won’t look back, but keeps pressing forward, keeps striving to win the prize. And of course, if we are going to press forward, that tells us that…

II. We must not slip back on the path of spiritual growth (vv. 15–16)

In the final two verses of this paragraph, Paul writes, [READ vv. 15–16]. Now v. 15 introduces a little bit of confusion because Paul seems to be contradicting what he said in v. 12 about being perfect. In that verse he had said that he has not already become perfect, but then in v. 15 it sounds like he’s saying that he is perfect. Your translation in v. 15 might say “mature,” which is an accurate translation, but it in Greek, Paul uses the same word in v. 12 as he does in v. 15. So what are we to make of all of this?

Well, we need to make note of the verb tense that Paul uses in v. 12. We can see that he’s using a tense that talks about a completed action that has led to a settled state. He writes, “not that I have already become perfect,” as though he had become perfect and some point in the past and was now settled in some kind of state of perfection. As we see, Paul believes that he needs to keep pressing forward to know Christ better, so it seems that what he is saying in v. 15 is that those who are perfect (or mature, or complete) in the Christian life are those who realize that they are not perfect, those who understand that they are still a work in progress. So I think Paul is simply adjusting our perspective of what it means to be mature as a Christian—it means that we understand that we still have work to do. In other words, if we think we’ve arrived at some kind of final state of Christian maturity, that attitude is proof that we haven’t!

But notice that Paul does acknowledge in v. 16 that as we grow in the Christian life, we really do make progress. He says, [READ v. 16]. Even though we still need to grow, its not as though we’re on some kind of spiritual treadmill, where we strive and strive for spiritual growth but end up stuck in the same place. We really do grow and mature; we really will find ourselves getting the upper hand on temptations that plague us right now. We really will find our knowledge increasing and our love for God growing, and what Paul is telling us is to make sure that that progress doesn’t slip away once we’ve attained it.

If I can use a military metaphor here, what Paul is saying is that once we have gained ground spiritually, we must never give up that ground. We must hold that position and then press forward to new territory. We must always be on the advance, never on the retreat, never yielding the spiritual growth that we have already obtained.

And so, what remains for us today is to take to heart Paul’s command in v. 15 to adopt this attitude as our own. And notice that he offers something a promise with that as well when he says “and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.” It is not an easy thing to tell if our attitude is off-base. As the Lord said through Jeremiah, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind (Jer. 17:9–10).”

So let’s ask the Lord to do exactly what Paul said here, to show us if our attitude is not what it should be, to show us if we’ve let up in our pursuit of knowing Him. Let’s ask God to show us if we are keeping ourselves shackled by the past—if we’re allowing ourselves to be held back by unnecessary guilt or an unhealthy sense of satisfaction over what we’ve already done. May we keep our eyes on the reward that God offers us for faithfulness to Christ, and press forward to win the prize.