Monday, March 22, 2010

LENT 5
March 21/22, 2010
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Philippians 3:7-14

“IT’S SPRINGTIME IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD!”
1. Time for Spring Cleaning.
2. Time for Spring Training.

Philippians 3:7-14 (NIV) “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What 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 9and 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. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not 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. 13Brothers, 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, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Happy Spring everyone! In case you missed it Spring officially began Saturday at 12:32 PM. Really, it’s spring! Oh come on, we were seeing the signs. Remember the sun and warmth? We were seeing new growth. The daffodils peeking up. Buds are on some trees. There are other signs. Spring Training has begun. For baseball fans spring training brings excitement and anticipation. No matter what happened last year, it’s a new season. Everyone starts out 0-0. Spring cleaning has also begun. For some it’s a necessary evil, for others a chance for a fresh start to get rid of all the clutter that accumulated when it was too cold to do anything about it.
Brothers and sisters it’s also springtime in the Kingdom of God. By God’s grace through faith in Jesus, we are members of the Kingdom of God. We never want to sit on our hands in complacency with our spiritual lives. There too we look for new growth. The Word of God before us challenges us to examine our spiritual lives and as we do that we can see it’s time for Spring Cleaning.
Have you ever noticed in your homes how easy it is for clutter to gather? It’s an aspect of the Second Law of Thermodynamics that everything in the universe goes from a state of order to disorder with no energy put in. More than once Chris has remarked how the kitchen counter is a clutter magnet. No sooner does she have that counter cleared off than someone’s placed something on it. Those girls of mine! You know our spiritual lives, our relationship with the Lord Jesus goes the same way. If no energy from the Holy Spirit goes in that relationship gets filled with clutter.
Paul talked about the way it used to be with himself when he said, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What 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 9and 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.” Paul talks of things that he used to consider profit in his relationship with God. If you look in your Bibles at the verses right before our text you’ll find what he meant. He talked about the time before he knew Jesus as Savior when he thought his right standing with God was determined by what he did. So he worked very hard to follow the Old Testament laws. He became the best Pharisee he could be. He persecuted those who followed Jesus because he thought that would make God happy. He basically was saying, “Look at me God. Look at me. Look at all I am doing for you. This should make you happy with me.” But then God took a hold of Paul. The Holy Spirit converted Paul to faith in Jesus. He understood his own righteous acts weren’t good enough. He understood that only Jesus’ righteousness would do and he that through faith in Jesus. So he did some Spring cleaning. He took out the trash. He looked at all those things he did and considered them rubbish. Worthless. Only Jesus mattered.
Is it time for Spring Cleaning in your relationship with Jesus? If you are new to faith in Jesus you can probably relate to Paul. Before you knew of free forgiveness and righteousness from Christ you probably thought your efforts to do good got you right with God too. If you’ve been in the faith a long time some clutter might have gathered on your faith counter. Think about this. How would you answer this question? Why do you think you will go to heaven? Did thoughts of, “I go to church. I try to do what’s right. I’m a member of a church,” flit through your mind? It’s time for Spring Cleaning! While all those things are good and right ways for someone who is righteous through faith in Christ to act, they don’t make you righteous. Only Jesus does! Time for Spring Cleaning. Take out the trash of your deeds and let only Jesus rest on your faith counter. He’s a beautiful centerpiece because He gives you 100% confidence you are righteous in the eyes of God. All sins forgiven and you can count on your Heavenly Father to help with every need. It’s Springtime in God’s Kingdom! It’s time for Spring Cleaning.
It’s also time for Spring Training. For those who are not so interested in baseball Spring Training can be a little confusing. You have your Cactus League and your Grapefruit League. The seemingly meaningless games are played away from the fan bases. Why do they do that? It’s training time. It’s time to get ready for the big games of the regular season.
The Apostle Paul urges us to do that kind of spiritual training as he explains his own training plan. “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, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not 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. 13Brothers, 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, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Did you notice how Paul’s training plan involved diet and exercise? Energy needs to come in. Paul put it this way, “I want to know Christ.” Brothers and sisters is there any doubt about what Paul’s passion is? It’s Christ. It’s Jesus. It’s a desire to know Jesus, follow Jesus, be like Jesus, suffer for Jesus. That was his diet—to take in as much Jesus as he possibly could. And then to exercise his faith in Jesus by pressing on to heaven. The Holy Spirit enabled Paul to see life the way it really is for all who believe, it’s a journey, a race to heaven. So you live that way and you talk that way and your goals are that way. You forget what’s behind. Who cares that Paul used to be a persecutor, that he was all mixed up in his way to be right with God? Each day every day his sins were no longer in the rear view mirror. They were forgotten because of Jesus, Paul’s passion.
What’s your passion? If it’s not Jesus it’s time for Spring training. Check your diet. Do you want to know Christ? What are you doing about it? Would you really be content to eat just once a week? I don’t think so! What are your goals? How are you running that race to heaven? Do you forget what is behind or are you letting your past control you, define who you are? What do you live for? Is it to see Jesus at the finish line of heaven and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Or is it just money that makes you tick? It’s time for spring training where we check our focus, reset our goals if need be and then press on toward that goal of an eternity living with Jesus. It’s Springtime in the Kingdom of God so it’s time for Spring Training.
I saw an interesting article recently about baseball’s spring training. Apparently some player is giving the inside scoop as the MLB Insider. In the article I read he pointed out that for some baseball players spring training is kind of a joke and a chance to party. But, the insider said, “You can tell the real pros though. They are in training all the time.” Now whether it feels like it or not it is Springtime in this part of God’s kingdom. And if the Lord wills the world to continue seasons will come and seasons will go. Wouldn’t it be great if the insiders and outsiders could look at us and say, “They are the real pros. They’re in training all the time.” Amen.

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