-By Thomas E. Brewton
The Apostle Paul defines the goal of the Christian life.
Sunday’s sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was delivered by Rev. Ted Fiorito. His text was taken from Philippians, chapter 3.
In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul describes the goal, the bull’s eye that is the aim of Christian life:
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 that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 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.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-15)
He warns us, however, against two paths that lead away from the goal: ritualistic legalism and hedonism.
First, with regard to legalism:
Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence. 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. (Philippians 3:2-6)
Paul clearly does not mean that it is wrong for religious Jews to follow the practice of circumcision to symbolize the Abrahamic covenant between God and man, or to adhere to other commandments of the law. The wrong comes in assuming that going through the motions will do the job, as the Old Testament prophets repeatedly warned the Israelites throughout their long history.
Paul, of course, was one of Christianity’s deadliest enemies in its early days, until his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Before that, his legalistic adherence to the letter of the law hardened his heart against the Gospel.
Softening the heart, following the spirit of the law is what counts. One of God’s great commandments, we are reminded, was to love thy neighbor as thyself.
Second, avoid the deadly path of licentiousness and hedonism.
For, 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. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:18-21)
God’s other great commandment was:
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38)
Pursuit of material things – wealth, power, sensual gratification – amounts to worshipping false gods. Doing so causes us to stumble in the race to the finish line, keeps us from the goal of true Christian life.
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Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets.
His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776 http://www.thomasbrewton.com/
Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Thomas E. Brewton