Philippians 3
"Standing Firm in the Lord." 

This morning we want to continue our study of  St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians by taking a close look at chapter 3.  The question that runs through chapter 3 is actually stated by Paul  in chapter 4:1. "Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends."  (vs.4:1). 

Maybe the question was raised by the Philippians.  "Paul, how do you stand so firm in the Lord, particularly with all you are going through in your ministry?"  Or maybe, after chapter 2 where Paul urged the Philippians to have the attitude of Christ, he raises the question, now how do you stand firm in the Lord?   

Is that question a familiar one to you?  I know it is for me.  We witness others who put up with all kinds of struggles and sacrifices in their life - yet they remain strong in their faith.  They may face pain and suffering and yet the continue to praise God for His goodness to them.  How do we take the cards that we are dealt in life, whether they be good or bad and stand firm in the Lord?  

We wouldn't be the first to ask that question and neither were the Philippians.  The King of Israel, David, pleaded with God in Psalm 51, in words that we will use ourselves as we present our offerings to God, "Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with in me."  (51:10). 

The author of Psalm 119 also pleads with God, "Oh that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees." (119:5).  

Let's agree, as we search the scriptures this morning, that we all have a need to ask this question.  As the prophet Isaiah says, "We all like sheep have gone astray..."   We are all the infants that Paul talks about in his letter to the Ephesians, "Who are tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind..."  (Eph.4:14)   How do we stand firm? 

            A. Standing firm requires a focus on the goal.

Let's take a close look at chapter 3 and see how Paul answers this question.  First of all, Paul says that in order to stand firm in the faith we must know where we are headed. 

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."  (vs.10-11). 

What a wonderfully clear mission statement for a person to have.  Can you imagine living your life with a mission so clearly stated as this. Can you see why it is so important for a congregation to know it's mission so clearly?   Paul's goal was to know Christ.  Not just know about Jesus like you might know all the facts about a person's life.  He wanted to know Christ in such a way that he was able to be certain of where he was headed even as he suffered with Christ, even as he died with Christ.  Paul knew that he was headed to the resurrection of the dead. 

That's the way it was for Jesus.  The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews says of Jesus,  "Who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame..." (Heb.12:2).  Jesus had the joy of heaven clearly in mind the whole time he was enduring the suffering and death that he came into this world for. He stood firm knowing where he was headed. 

Sadly, many Americans today do not know where they are headed.  A recent survey conducted by the Princeton Religious Research Center,  found that only 68% of Americans say that they believe in heaven and only 29% could say that were sure that they were going there.  Furthermore, only 60% of all Americans said they believe in hell, and only 2% thought they would go there.  What that means is that 71% of all Americans don't think they're going to heaven.  And 98% of all Americans don't believe they are going to hell.  Which boils down to a lot of people don't know where they are headed after death. 

How is it for you and I?  Do you know where you are going?  Are you confident of your destination?  Jesus says, "I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself so that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."  (John 14:2-4).  

            B.   Standing firm means not loosing sight of the goal.

And yet, it's easy to lose sight of the destination isn't it.  An old Peanuts cartoon shows Charlie Brown working hard on his memory verse for Sunday School.  He recites it again and again.  Frontwards and backwards and inside out.  Then, he's out the door and headed for Sunday School class.  Moments later he's back again.  Embarrassed, he says, "I forgot where the church is."  Charlie Brown is a lot like us.  So caught up in the things we have to remember right now and the things that occupy our attention right now that we forget where we are headed.   And without a clear vision of the where we are headed, we go easily go astray. 

Paul writes,  "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  (vs.14). To "press on" means to keep our focus.  It means to keep heaven in sight at all times.   That's not always easy to do because with all that goes on in our life from day to day and hour to hour and minute to minute, it is easy to loose sight of our final destination. 

A young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water of Catalina Island intending to swim the channel from the island to the California coast.  Long distance swimming was nothing new to Florence.  She had been the first woman to swim the English Channel, in both directions.  On this day the fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her party.  She swam more than fifteen hours before she asked to be taken out of the water.  Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she could see was fog.  So she quit ....  only one half mile from her goal.   

How often do we fail, not because we're afraid or because of peer pressure or because of anything other than the fact that we loose sight of the goal. 

Two months after her failure, Florence Chadwick walked off the same beach into the same channel on a clear day and swam the distance, setting a new speed record because she could see the goal. 

            D.  Standing firm requires a discernment of the wrong goal.

It is very important to know where we are headed so that whatever comes, we may stand firm.  Paul writes, "Our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ..." (vs.20).  And yet, until we reach the goal, we are continually surrounded by things that would fog up our vision of heaven.   Let's face it, there are a lot of things in this world that are competing for our attention. 

Paul minces no words here.  He says that when allow the things of this world to become the end all for of our life, we become enemies of the cross.  Repeating what he must have said many times before, "As I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.  Their mind is on earthly things."  (vs.18-19). 

The author George Orwell tells of a rather cruel trick he once played on a wasp.  The wasp was sucking jelly on his plate.  Orwell took his knife and cut the wasp in half.  The wasp paid no attention to what had just happened to him, but just went on eating the jelly.  A tiny stream of jelly even trickled out of the wasps severed esophagus.  It was only when the was tried to fly away that he realized the terrible thing that had happened to him.  

What a terrible picture of a life that is focused on the this world that is. Their destiny is destruction. And yet, we know how easy it is if we don't know where we are headed to say, "Who knows what tomorrow may bring, I'm going to live for the moment."  I like C.S. Lewis' comment here.   He says, "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.  Aim at earth and you will get neither." 

Some people would accuse us of having our head in the clouds with such a focus.  But focusing on heaven doesn't turn us into ethereal dreamers.  On the contrary, it provides a goal that puts all earthly things into their proper perspective.  St. Peter reminds us of that perspective.   We are but "aliens and strangers" here.  The hymn we just sang had it right, "I am but a stranger here.  Heaven is my home."  

Paul's perspective was sure changed on the Damascus road.  His focus had been on his wonderful pedigree and his own emotional zeal.  But now, by the grace of God, he had been shown what a dead end the wrong goals in life lead to.  "But 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 from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."  (vs.7-9). 

            D. Standing firm requires a vision of the cross.

Did you hear that? Paul says that the goal that he strives for is a gift "from God and is by faith."   All that we have ahead of us in heaven is ours because of Christ.  Only because He stood firm, only because He conquered death, only because he is now seated at the right hand of the Father is heaven open to us. 

Therefore, we are never able to see the goal which lies ahead unless we first behold the cross which lies behind us.  We are not able to press on toward the goal to win the prize apart from the firm confidence that Christ has already captured the prize for us and He desires to give it to us.  We are not able to seize the goal, it is ours as a gift by faith, or we cannot have it at all.  We know where we are going because we know where Christ has been and is now.  

"Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends."  (vs.4:1).  Amen.