First Things First. Philippians 3:8-14, 21-23. 07/21/2024.

First Things First

Philippians 3:8-14, 21-23

Rev. Scott Moncrieff

July 21, 2024

It is an old story, but it bears retelling. A young stockbroker was opening his car door when a large truck rumbled by. Before he realized what was happening the truck ripped the door right off. “My Lexus,” he screamed, “my beautiful new Lexus.” A policeman who came on the scene chided the young stockbroker on being so wrapped up in material things. “Forget about your Lexus,” said the policeman, “can’t you see that the truck ripped off your left arm?”

The stockbroker looked down and screamed, “My Rolex, My beautiful Rolex!”

Back in 1998 we lived in Ormond Beach, Florida. We were enjoying our place on Clearwater Pass when we saw on the news that there was a raging fire in Ormond and our neighborhood was being evacuated. Our Son, a student at Central Florida University called to say he was heading to our house to get whatever he could cram into his truck. What did we want to save from a lifetime of living? Sue steered him by phone from room to room listing photographs and other treasures that could not be replaced. This leads to the question – “Of all the ‘stuff’ in your life, what is really important to you? Where would you begin?

Paul is in Rome under house arrest. And he is writing a letter to friends in the church at Philippi, a church that he and Silas founded about ten years earlier. Philippi held both fond and bitter memories for Paul. At Philippi Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. They succeeded in starting a church, but at great cost to themselves.

Now it is ten years later. Paul is chained to a Roman guard day and night. He does not know when the unpredictable Roman emperor Nero will have him called out and put to death. And yet, Paul writes this joyful letter to the Philippians. It is an amazing letter for a man who has experienced so much opposition and hardship. It is a letter brimming with hope and confidence. It also gives us insight into Paul’s heart and soul during this critical time. I particularly draw your attention to verses 10-11. Paul writes,

“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.”

What does Paul want more than anything else as he wastes away in chains in Rome toward the end of his life? He wants to be like Christ. He may be in chains, he may be executed at any moment, he may never again get to visit his friends in the churches he has started, but one passion fills his mind and heart. He wants to be like Jesus. “But one thing I do . . .” he writes. This one thing consumed Paul and ultimately made him the most influential man who ever lived, after Christ himself. “I want to know Christ . . .”

Let me tell you how great Paul’s passion was for Christ. I mentioned that a Roman soldier was chained to Paul day and night. These soldiers were rotated on a regular basis, perhaps as often as every six hours. What do you imagine Paul did with these hours of confinement? At least part of the time he was talking to these young soldiers about his faith and their faith. We know this because the book of Philippians ends with these words, “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.” Christians in Caesar’s household? Where did they come from? They came from this man Paul’s irrepressible desire to share Christ.

Theologian Paul Tillich once said that whatever our ultimate concern is, that is our God. Paul’s ultimate concern was to be like Jesus. What is your ultimate concern?

In 1973, billionaire J. Paul Getty’s teenage grandson was kidnaped and held for ransom. Getty refused to pay. The desperate kidnapers finally sent Getty his grandson’s ear as a sign of their earnestness. He still refused to pay – he would pay only a small fraction of the demand allowable as a tax deduction. The boy was finally released after five months. I believe we know what J. Paul Getty’s greatest priority was. It was not the return of his grandson.

What is it that really matters to you? Your work? Your health? Material possessions? Your family? If your house was in danger, what would you choose to save?

One reason we are not as effective in our lives as we could be is that we have never decided what is really important and focused on that one thing.

I used to read Pogo in the comic strips when I was a kid. In one of the comic strips, Pogo is sitting on a log as his friend Rabbit runs by. Pogo asks where he is going in such a rush. Rabbit says that he does not know, but he is responding to an emergency. “What’s all the hurry if you don’t know where you are going?” Pogo asks. “Man, that’s just it!” says Rabbit. “It’s when you don’t know where you’re going that you gotta be in a hurry!”

Do you know where you’re going? Do you have a clear-cut vision of what a successful life would be for you? Have you cleared away all the clutter in your life and focused on that which will really bring you abundant life? We know what mattered most to Paul. What is your ultimate concern?

In other words, Do you have a purpose for your life? Years ago, Rick Warren wrote that wildly popular book, The Purpose Driven Life. Millions of people bought his book.

Motivational books claim that success and fulfillment belong to those who set and achieve their goals. Make a list of goals and then find a way to achieve them--that’s the secret to happiness. But best-selling business author Spencer Johnson disagrees with this theory. In his book The One-Minute $ales Person, Johnson claims that true success and fulfillment come from fulfilling your purpose in life. Once you’ve discovered and stated your purpose, then you can choose goals that will achieve that purpose. He’s right. Do you have a purpose for your life? That’s the first question I have for you today. The purpose-driven life is a life of meaning and vitality. When you find something magnificent to live for, it makes it much easier to deal with a lot of the headaches of life.

A few years ago, Robert Young was a successful businessman in Seattle, WA. His main priorities were spending time with his new wife and building up his fast-growing business. Then Young read a newspaper article about extreme poverty among elderly Native Americans living on reservations. Something about the story touched Robert Young. He called the number listed in the paper to ask how he could help. Robert soon enlisted in an “Adopt a-Grandparent” program. He was matched with a 78-year-old woman named Katherine Red Feather. Robert went to visit Katherine. He was stunned by the poverty he saw all around him. Whole families lived in broken-down cars. Plywood shacks passed for homes. Many of the elderly people couldn’t afford basic necessities, much less medicine. Robert decided to build his new “grandmother” a house. He provided the materials; friends and neighbors on the reservation provided the labor. In two weeks’ time, they had built Katherine Red Feather a new home.

After this, Robert tried to return to his successful business, but his heart wasn’t in it. He kept dreaming of helping other Native American people build their own homes. Finally, Robert Young sold his business and opened the Red Feather Development Group, an organization that designs and builds low-cost housing on Native American reservations.

Robert Young did this out of compassion for these desperately poor people, but do you understand that he also did it for himself? He could not go back to the old life. Now he has a purpose, something to get him out of bed in the morning.

If our congregation of people gathered here today is typical of most groups in this country, there is at least one person sitting in this room who is desperately unhappy with his or her life right now. It’s all right when you’re busy and surrounded by people. But when no one else is around, when you are left with your own thoughts, there is an emptiness, a disappointment about life, a fear that you have missed something that is vitally important. Do you have a sense of purpose?

Do you have someone for whom you would sacrifice your life? That’s the second important question I have for you today. For those who are parents this is a question that is easy to answer. Would you give your life for your child? Of course you would.

Would you give your life for your spouse? Some of us would. I ran across a humorous piece by an unknown author about the differences between women and men: A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband; a man never worries about the future until he gets a wife . . . To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little; to be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all…….A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t; a man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change but she does . . . A woman has the last word in any argument; anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument. I may be in trouble after the service today.

We laugh about such things, but the truth of the matter is that a person who is wrapped up in himself or herself will seldom be really happy. That doesn’t mean you have to find a spouse or have children to find happiness. Many single people live very satisfying lives, but almost without exception this is because they have developed other kinds of relationships--with friends, coworkers, fellow church members, etc. No one can live a successful life without reaching out to someone else. Our lives are meant for community, fellowship.

So…back to the question -- Is there anyone in this world you would die for? Some of you have found that kind of a relationship in Jesus Christ. You have found what Paul found, that the most satisfying relationship possible for human beings is a relationship with the Divine Other. Many people do not want a second-hand faith. They want to experience Christ’s joy, his peace, his love for themselves.

A man was talking about a conversation he had once with his grandfather. He said that coming home from school one spring afternoon, he found his grandfather sitting on the front porch. The boy proudly shared the somewhat lengthy information he had learned that day about our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln. After allowing him to share the information, his grandfather said to him, “Son, you definitely know more about Abraham Lincoln than I do, but” he added with a gleam in his eyes, “I knew Abraham Lincoln.” The grandson had information about Lincoln. The grandfather knew Lincoln personally.

There is a difference between knowing about Christ and knowing him personally.

Professional golfer Payne Stewart knew that difference. Before his death in a plane crash, Stewart had found that one thing for which he was searching. Sports Illustrated took notice. In its coverage of the U.S. Open before Stewart’s death they noted that Stewart had “turned to faith, embracing Christianity with the fervor of a prison convert.” He wore a “What Would Jesus Do?” WWJD bracelet during the U. S. Open and began each day by reading a devotional book, the magazine reported. “There used to be a void in my life,” Stewart told Sports Illustrated, which noted that his mother, Bee, formerly had once described her outspoken son as “rude”; his wife had used the word, “arrogant”; and his caddie, “impatient and not very self-confident.” “The peace I have now is so wonderful,” Stewart told Sports Illustrated. “I don’t understand how I lived so long without it.

“My question for you today is do you have that peace, a peace that comes from a first-hand faith? Paul did. His priorities were in order. “This one thing I do . . .” Do you have a purpose for your life? Do you have someone in your life for whom you would give your life? Have you made peace with Christ and invited Him to become your Lord, your Savior, your friend?