Phil 3:12-16
12 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. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
NIV
Finally, we have reached the end of the banana. Not that I haven't enjoyed every minute of it, but now we can see the peak of this mountain. Paul makes it clear that even he hasn't got it all yet but that isn't going to slow him down. His intention is to apprehend what Jesus called him to apprehend. He is coming back to the first point he made that I pointed to in part 1. He is going to forget everything behind and go after the goal.
First of all he isn't just forgetting what God has done for him but he is leaving the "burning bush" and he is running toward the "Mount Sinai." (If Moses hadn't left the bush he would have never experienced the mountain). He isn't just walking toward it either; this is his total consuming focus in life. He is "straining toward" and "pressing on" to know Christ.
What is the goal? What is the prize? It is the knowledge of Christ and the becoming like Him. Look at what Jesus said:
John 17:3-4
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
NIV
We would be wise to follow Paul's example to strive to know God this way; every way. God's desire is to reveal Himself to us in every way. Eternal life begins with the knowledge of God. Our perfection comes when we, like Christ, only do what we see our Father in heaven doing. Jesus paid to make this impossibility possible. The key here is that Paul says it takes maturity to see this and he even goes as far as to say that is the way the mature should view life.
Ultimately it is God that brings us to this understanding only through a relationship and time spent with Him. Paul makes a dramatic statement that derails all religious regulations when he says "only let us live up to what we have already attained." In other words, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What God, through a relationship with Him, has revealed to us and the convictions He has established in our lives is the law written on our hearts and we are required to live up to that which we have attained. Take note of this scripture:
Gal 5:16
I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
NIV
I believe the whole Book and when it says here that I will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature when I walk with God, led by His Spirit, I believe it. And that is a whole other book so I will end with this. If you focus on sin or not sinning you will sin. If you focus on God you won't.
Rom 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
NIV
Just enjoy the banana and God will handle the rest!
God bless!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Knowing the Banana: part 3
Phil 3:10-11
10 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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
NIV
Paul here says he wants to know the "power of his resurrection". We know the Bible says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. Paul says he wants to know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Many Christians think this means we are to suffer like Jesus suffered so we can have fellowship with Him. That's dumb. Jesus went through all of that suffering so we wouldn't have to. He paid for us because we couldn't pay for us ourselves. Who thinks that they could actually gain something by their own suffering; our righteousness is as filthy rags. God isn't in the business of suffering because He can't give what He doesn't have. Suffering is the devils business and Jesus came so we can be free from suffering. Read Isaiah 61.
What Paul is saying here is that he wants to join in the benefits that come from Jesus' suffering. He wants to live in the blessings of what Jesus paid for. Jesus' death wasn't just enough to get us into heaven. His life was worth WAY more than that wasn't it? He paid for our freedom from sin, death, torment from the devil, and for man's fellowship with God to be restored so we may rule the Earth as He had intended Adam to. This is what Paul was talking about. Jesus paid through His suffering what needed to be paid so we can have a real relationship with Him and our Father in Heaven. Paul wants to know Him.
"...becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."
I want to point out something in John 7 that I think can explain this better.
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as c the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NIV
First of all, we are to take a drink of the Spirit and that drink will become "streams of living water." In other words, we are to get life from God (drink) and our life will become empowered (streams of life) to give life to everyone around us that comes for a drink. That is amazing! What a massive responsibility we have. I'll dig into that another time.
Notice that verse 39 says that the Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. That's interesting. Why the need to wait until Jesus was glorified? Well, what is the primary job of the Holy Spirit? His main purpose is to make us more like Jesus. His job is to perfect us. I know, what a tough job, huh? Think about it this way, if the Spirit had come prior to Jesus being glorified then He would be making the disciples more like Jesus before the cross. He came after Jesus was glorified because we are to be like the glorified Christ. We are being transformed into the likeness of the Jesus who sets at the right hand of the Father, not the Jesus who walked this Earth. Many Christians are still weeping at the cross and God wants us to know the life after the resurrection. The power Jesus displayed on Earth as a man walking in right relationship with God was awesome but He wants us to know the greater power of the resurrection. God considers the raising of Jesus from the dead the greatest thing that has ever been done. It is greater than all of creation. That is what He wants us to know. That is what Paul wanted to know.
God bless you.
10 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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
NIV
Paul here says he wants to know the "power of his resurrection". We know the Bible says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. Paul says he wants to know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Many Christians think this means we are to suffer like Jesus suffered so we can have fellowship with Him. That's dumb. Jesus went through all of that suffering so we wouldn't have to. He paid for us because we couldn't pay for us ourselves. Who thinks that they could actually gain something by their own suffering; our righteousness is as filthy rags. God isn't in the business of suffering because He can't give what He doesn't have. Suffering is the devils business and Jesus came so we can be free from suffering. Read Isaiah 61.
What Paul is saying here is that he wants to join in the benefits that come from Jesus' suffering. He wants to live in the blessings of what Jesus paid for. Jesus' death wasn't just enough to get us into heaven. His life was worth WAY more than that wasn't it? He paid for our freedom from sin, death, torment from the devil, and for man's fellowship with God to be restored so we may rule the Earth as He had intended Adam to. This is what Paul was talking about. Jesus paid through His suffering what needed to be paid so we can have a real relationship with Him and our Father in Heaven. Paul wants to know Him.
"...becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."
I want to point out something in John 7 that I think can explain this better.
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as c the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NIV
First of all, we are to take a drink of the Spirit and that drink will become "streams of living water." In other words, we are to get life from God (drink) and our life will become empowered (streams of life) to give life to everyone around us that comes for a drink. That is amazing! What a massive responsibility we have. I'll dig into that another time.
Notice that verse 39 says that the Spirit had not been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. That's interesting. Why the need to wait until Jesus was glorified? Well, what is the primary job of the Holy Spirit? His main purpose is to make us more like Jesus. His job is to perfect us. I know, what a tough job, huh? Think about it this way, if the Spirit had come prior to Jesus being glorified then He would be making the disciples more like Jesus before the cross. He came after Jesus was glorified because we are to be like the glorified Christ. We are being transformed into the likeness of the Jesus who sets at the right hand of the Father, not the Jesus who walked this Earth. Many Christians are still weeping at the cross and God wants us to know the life after the resurrection. The power Jesus displayed on Earth as a man walking in right relationship with God was awesome but He wants us to know the greater power of the resurrection. God considers the raising of Jesus from the dead the greatest thing that has ever been done. It is greater than all of creation. That is what He wants us to know. That is what Paul wanted to know.
God bless you.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Knowing the Banana: part 2
Phil 3:8-11
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 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. 10 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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
NIV
I want to pick up where I left off last time. We talked about how Paul considered everything a loss compared to knowing Christ. Here he is considering all those former things junk in order that he might gain Christ and be found in Him. John writes in his Gospel account: "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30. When we loose who we are we gain who He is. That is awesome because it is far greater a thing for Christ to live through me. Then all things are possible!
Paul then makes the statement that the righteousness that comes from God is through faith in Christ. He is telling us that our righteousness should come from God. That righteousness, that comes from God, comes only by faith; faith in Jesus Christ. Consider this, we are saved by grace through faith. Grace comes from God, righteousness comes from God and they both can only come through faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. James tells us that faith without action is dead and it can't save you. Therefore, when we believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ and declare Him to be the Lord(Ruler) of our lives then He supplies the power, equipment, weapons, armor, wisdom, strength, resources, and everything else we need to live holy and all we have to do is believe and act on our beliefs. We cannot sit idle in a pew (or chair) and expect God to do the work. That is like going to work and sitting at your desk expecting your boss to do the job he hired you to do. You would get fired! Well God has a job for us and He has given us everything we need in order to perform our job. I am not talking about a life of works getting you into heaven, it is an issue of the heart. The fruit of someone trying to earn heaven and someone who is living by faith from heaven(we are seated in heavenly places- Ephesians 2:6) looks the same but it comes from a different place, one comes from pride and the other comes from God.
We need to stop walking around like whipped dogs and stand up straight as David did and begin knocking down a few giants and cutting off their heads. We are here to destroy the works of the devil and bring heaven to earth.
Well, I thought that this series of entries would be coming to a close soon but I guess I thought wrong. This "banana" is bigger than I thought and it is going to take more bites to get it all down. I pray today that you see God somewhere you have never seen Him before, that He would reveal Himself to you in a whole new way. I pray that everything that is done by you today would prosper and you would accomplish, with much satisfaction, everything you set out to do. God bless!
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 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. 10 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, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
NIV
I want to pick up where I left off last time. We talked about how Paul considered everything a loss compared to knowing Christ. Here he is considering all those former things junk in order that he might gain Christ and be found in Him. John writes in his Gospel account: "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30. When we loose who we are we gain who He is. That is awesome because it is far greater a thing for Christ to live through me. Then all things are possible!
Paul then makes the statement that the righteousness that comes from God is through faith in Christ. He is telling us that our righteousness should come from God. That righteousness, that comes from God, comes only by faith; faith in Jesus Christ. Consider this, we are saved by grace through faith. Grace comes from God, righteousness comes from God and they both can only come through faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. James tells us that faith without action is dead and it can't save you. Therefore, when we believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ and declare Him to be the Lord(Ruler) of our lives then He supplies the power, equipment, weapons, armor, wisdom, strength, resources, and everything else we need to live holy and all we have to do is believe and act on our beliefs. We cannot sit idle in a pew (or chair) and expect God to do the work. That is like going to work and sitting at your desk expecting your boss to do the job he hired you to do. You would get fired! Well God has a job for us and He has given us everything we need in order to perform our job. I am not talking about a life of works getting you into heaven, it is an issue of the heart. The fruit of someone trying to earn heaven and someone who is living by faith from heaven(we are seated in heavenly places- Ephesians 2:6) looks the same but it comes from a different place, one comes from pride and the other comes from God.
We need to stop walking around like whipped dogs and stand up straight as David did and begin knocking down a few giants and cutting off their heads. We are here to destroy the works of the devil and bring heaven to earth.
Well, I thought that this series of entries would be coming to a close soon but I guess I thought wrong. This "banana" is bigger than I thought and it is going to take more bites to get it all down. I pray today that you see God somewhere you have never seen Him before, that He would reveal Himself to you in a whole new way. I pray that everything that is done by you today would prosper and you would accomplish, with much satisfaction, everything you set out to do. God bless!
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