MATURITY #3/7

#1 · March 2, 2009, 1:22 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on March 2, 2009, 1:22 pm
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
MATURITY #3/7

MAKING CHANGE

March 2, 2009

TEXT: Philippians 3:1-11

As we continue to investigate the meaning and application of Christian maturity, I want to do a quick review. First, Gods Word tells us that Christian believers are supposed to be working on becoming mature believers. The Scripture lesson from Hebrews 5:11-6:3 talks about moving from milk to solid food. The imagery means that we are to grow from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity.

Second, beginning at the moment we receive Jesus Christ into our lives and begin life as a born-again Christian, we are to proceed toward spiritual maturity step-by-step. As we do, we become increasingly aware that the Holy Spirit leads us in this journey. As we turn more of our life over to God, we discover that our steps toward maturity become more ordered and more possible as we are filled with the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Now we enter into one of the most difficult steps of spiritual maturity: change. This one necessity sometimes keeps Christians from proceeding on the better path toward maturity at a reasonable rate. In fact, this one necessity sometimes prevents a person from accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord in the first place. But we dont have to worry about not changing here, do we? Baptists are among the most open to change, right? Well maybe not. Youve heard light bulb jokes before, I suspect. How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? What? Change?

I want to be perfectly clear about what I mean by change this morning. I am not talking about cultural or societal change. Some groups of Christians have decided that they will not change with the times; instead, they strive to live as people lived in the nineteenth century. They have determined that this is how they can please God. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who contend that if they are not constantly bringing new technologies, techniques, and styles into the church, then they are not equipping themselves to reach the current generations. By way of negative examples, these are not the kinds of changes I am addressing this morning. Right now, our concern is not whether we sing traditional hymns or contemporary choruses or whether we use movie clips or flannel graph to illustrate a Bible lesson. The change I am addressing this morning is the change we make in our personal life that, first, grows our relationship with God and then, second, grows our relationship with others.

One of the most profound lessons about the type of change I am talking about this morning is found in Philippians 3:1-11. As happened so many times, a group of people would come into a young Christian church they were all young churches back then and begin to confuse the young believers with incorrect doctrine and burden them with requirements of the law. Just about every letter Paul wrote to specific churches dealt with this matter, and he confronted both the false teachers and the young Christian congregations with the truth of the Gospel.

This was the situation facing the young Christians in Philippi. Some group was coming into the congregation and confusing them with regard to law and grace. They sought to replace grace with law. From verses 4-6, we read, If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

What Paul does here is to make it clear to the Philippians that if anyone has a right to make the kinds of demands on them that those false teachers are making, it is Paul. In no uncertain language, Paul lets them know that he is better than any of them. This is no idle boast, as he delineates specifically the reasons he can make such a claim. Everything that he writes in these few verses provides all the credentials that are needed to establish Pauls righteousness at the human level. He has been born into the right tribe of the right people. He has the right education, and he has the right resume. As Paul puts it, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

After establishing these credentials, Paul then goes for the big point. And it is quite a big point. But, he exclaims. Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

Paul makes it extremely clear that a large part of growing in Christian maturity is to make the change from being who he wants to be to who God wants him to be. There is the important point. Listen carefully: a large part of growing in Christian maturity is to make the change from being who we want to be to who God wants us to be. The Christians change is not for the sake of doing something different. That results in only a superficial change that is all too often temporary. The change in which we engage is for the purpose, as Paul puts it, of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It is this type of change that moves us on to Christian maturity and away from the hypocrisy of self-righteousness.

Just in case the example from Paul is not enough, how about the matter of Jesus himself? In his human nature, he agonized over the coming suffering that he would have to endure. We learn this in Matthew 26:39 where, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. But the prayer did not end there, as he reveals the extent to which he identifies with the Father. Yet not as I will, but as you will.

Making change as a growing Christian means that we are learning about and striving toward the will of God. It means that we are not satisfied to stay where we began our spiritual journey, but seek to move closer to God in all areas of our lives. Making change has nothing to do with impressing others by putting on some pious mask. It has nothing to do with showing others how righteous we are. It has nothing to do with what anyone else may think about us. Making change has everything to do with our identity with Christ and our desire to live as he desires us to live. And that is the critical point our change must be for the purpose of identifying more closely with Jesus. If it is for any other purpose, it can never be real, and our hypocrisy will be exposed.

Therein lies the source of whether change is successful or not. Therein lays one of the clues about what spiritual maturity is all about. We are changing to become more like our Lord and Savior, or we are merely covering over our old ways to be able to fool others. I need to back up just a moment and remind everyone, myself included, that our steps toward spiritual maturity are a journey. Very few Christians, if any, have ever grown overnight into all that Christ calls them to be. When we discover gaps in our relationship with Jesus, even if they appear because we have lost some ground, we are not to become overwhelmed with discouragement. We are, instead, to recognize our sins and shortcomings, confess them, and press on toward the better relationship to which we are called. I remind us of this because setting about to become more like Christ is a learned trait. We are or once were able to ride a bicycle because we were taught how and then given the opportunity to practice. We start out wobbly; we fall a few times; we wonder how anyone ever accomplishes this skill. Then, one day, were on it and riding like its the most natural thing in the world. How did that happen? We kept practicing until our bodys muscle groups and coordination developed the ability to respond to riding the bike. So it is with any other skill that we master. Jacob and other Maconaquah swimmers advanced to state qualifications. They didnt just wake up one morning and discover that they could swim competitively. They spent many hours in the pool and listening to coaches. They learned; they practiced; they applied new lessons and insights; and, eventually, they became more and more a natural swimmer.

In a very like manner, born-again believers become more and more natural Christians when we practice making change. Every Christian has the advantage of receiving strength and encouragement from the Holy Spirit. In a very real sense, none of what we strive to do can be accomplished on our own. We are enabled by the Holy Spirit. But we must allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives in the right way so that we can make change and grow toward maturity.

Making change is a necessary part of what is meant by spiritual maturity. When we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, we have made a vital first step from which we should retain an important lesson. We come to a saving knowledge of Christ because we recognize that we need a change in our life. We recognize that only God can save us from our sins. We recognize that only God has saved us from our sins. We want God to change us.

What we need to do, therefore, is to keep that need for change always with us. As Paul grew in his relationship with Jesus, he recognized his continuing need for change. According to this personal testimony to the Philippians, he also acted on that need to change. He allowed God to change and to direct his life so that he could better know the surpassing greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we look to God to change us, we can be certain that we will grow in our relationship with Him and will experience spiritual maturity. Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

www.bhfirstbaptist.com
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org   

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

MATURITY #3/7

MAKING CHANGE

March 2, 2009

TEXT: Philippians 3:1-11

As we continue to investigate the meaning and application of Christian maturity, I want to do a quick review. First, Gods Word tells us that Christian believers are supposed to be working on becoming mature believers. The Scripture lesson from Hebrews 5:11-6:3 talks about moving from milk to solid food. The imagery means that we are to grow from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity.

Second, beginning at the moment we receive Jesus Christ into our lives and begin life as a born-again Christian, we are to proceed toward spiritual maturity step-by-step. As we do, we become increasingly aware that the Holy Spirit leads us in this journey. As we turn more of our life over to God, we discover that our steps toward maturity become more ordered and more possible as we are filled with the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Now we enter into one of the most difficult steps of spiritual maturity: change. This one necessity sometimes keeps Christians from proceeding on the better path toward maturity at a reasonable rate. In fact, this one necessity sometimes prevents a person from accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord in the first place. But we dont have to worry about not changing here, do we? Baptists are among the most open to change, right? Well maybe not. Youve heard light bulb jokes before, I suspect. How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? What? Change?

I want to be perfectly clear about what I mean by change this morning. I am not talking about cultural or societal change. Some groups of Christians have decided that they will not change with the times; instead, they strive to live as people lived in the nineteenth century. They have determined that this is how they can please God. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who contend that if they are not constantly bringing new technologies, techniques, and styles into the church, then they are not equipping themselves to reach the current generations. By way of negative examples, these are not the kinds of changes I am addressing this morning. Right now, our concern is not whether we sing traditional hymns or contemporary choruses or whether we use movie clips or flannel graph to illustrate a Bible lesson. The change I am addressing this morning is the change we make in our personal life that, first, grows our relationship with God and then, second, grows our relationship with others.

One of the most profound lessons about the type of change I am talking about this morning is found in Philippians 3:1-11. As happened so many times, a group of people would come into a young Christian church they were all young churches back then and begin to confuse the young believers with incorrect doctrine and burden them with requirements of the law. Just about every letter Paul wrote to specific churches dealt with this matter, and he confronted both the false teachers and the young Christian congregations with the truth of the Gospel.

This was the situation facing the young Christians in Philippi. Some group was coming into the congregation and confusing them with regard to law and grace. They sought to replace grace with law. From verses 4-6, we read, If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

What Paul does here is to make it clear to the Philippians that if anyone has a right to make the kinds of demands on them that those false teachers are making, it is Paul. In no uncertain language, Paul lets them know that he is better than any of them. This is no idle boast, as he delineates specifically the reasons he can make such a claim. Everything that he writes in these few verses provides all the credentials that are needed to establish Pauls righteousness at the human level. He has been born into the right tribe of the right people. He has the right education, and he has the right resume. As Paul puts it, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

After establishing these credentials, Paul then goes for the big point. And it is quite a big point. But, he exclaims. Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

Paul makes it extremely clear that a large part of growing in Christian maturity is to make the change from being who he wants to be to who God wants him to be. There is the important point. Listen carefully: a large part of growing in Christian maturity is to make the change from being who we want to be to who God wants us to be. The Christians change is not for the sake of doing something different. That results in only a superficial change that is all too often temporary. The change in which we engage is for the purpose, as Paul puts it, of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It is this type of change that moves us on to Christian maturity and away from the hypocrisy of self-righteousness.

Just in case the example from Paul is not enough, how about the matter of Jesus himself? In his human nature, he agonized over the coming suffering that he would have to endure. We learn this in Matthew 26:39 where, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. But the prayer did not end there, as he reveals the extent to which he identifies with the Father. Yet not as I will, but as you will.

Making change as a growing Christian means that we are learning about and striving toward the will of God. It means that we are not satisfied to stay where we began our spiritual journey, but seek to move closer to God in all areas of our lives. Making change has nothing to do with impressing others by putting on some pious mask. It has nothing to do with showing others how righteous we are. It has nothing to do with what anyone else may think about us. Making change has everything to do with our identity with Christ and our desire to live as he desires us to live. And that is the critical point our change must be for the purpose of identifying more closely with Jesus. If it is for any other purpose, it can never be real, and our hypocrisy will be exposed.

Therein lies the source of whether change is successful or not. Therein lays one of the clues about what spiritual maturity is all about. We are changing to become more like our Lord and Savior, or we are merely covering over our old ways to be able to fool others. I need to back up just a moment and remind everyone, myself included, that our steps toward spiritual maturity are a journey. Very few Christians, if any, have ever grown overnight into all that Christ calls them to be. When we discover gaps in our relationship with Jesus, even if they appear because we have lost some ground, we are not to become overwhelmed with discouragement. We are, instead, to recognize our sins and shortcomings, confess them, and press on toward the better relationship to which we are called. I remind us of this because setting about to become more like Christ is a learned trait. We are or once were able to ride a bicycle because we were taught how and then given the opportunity to practice. We start out wobbly; we fall a few times; we wonder how anyone ever accomplishes this skill. Then, one day, were on it and riding like its the most natural thing in the world. How did that happen? We kept practicing until our bodys muscle groups and coordination developed the ability to respond to riding the bike. So it is with any other skill that we master. Jacob and other Maconaquah swimmers advanced to state qualifications. They didnt just wake up one morning and discover that they could swim competitively. They spent many hours in the pool and listening to coaches. They learned; they practiced; they applied new lessons and insights; and, eventually, they became more and more a natural swimmer.

In a very like manner, born-again believers become more and more natural Christians when we practice making change. Every Christian has the advantage of receiving strength and encouragement from the Holy Spirit. In a very real sense, none of what we strive to do can be accomplished on our own. We are enabled by the Holy Spirit. But we must allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives in the right way so that we can make change and grow toward maturity.

Making change is a necessary part of what is meant by spiritual maturity. When we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, we have made a vital first step from which we should retain an important lesson. We come to a saving knowledge of Christ because we recognize that we need a change in our life. We recognize that only God can save us from our sins. We recognize that only God has saved us from our sins. We want God to change us.

What we need to do, therefore, is to keep that need for change always with us. As Paul grew in his relationship with Jesus, he recognized his continuing need for change. According to this personal testimony to the Philippians, he also acted on that need to change. He allowed God to change and to direct his life so that he could better know the surpassing greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we look to God to change us, we can be certain that we will grow in our relationship with Him and will experience spiritual maturity. Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

http://www.bhfirstbaptist.com

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org