Sermon -- 5th Sunday in Lent (April 7, 2019)

PHILIPPIANS 3:8-14

WE PRESS ON TO THE GOAL WHICH LIES AHEAD.

In the name + of Jesus.

     Over the years, one tactic critics have used to try to discredit the Bible and Christianity is to challenge St. Paul's place as an apostle.  If you demonstrate that Paul's conversion was not genuine, then his epistles are fraudulent.  And if St. Paul's writings are discarded, then you lose more than half of the New Testament and much doctrinal instruction.
     St. Paul emphatically defended his apostleship and held firm to the account of his conversion.  He adds to that defense in our epistle today.  “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him...” (Philippians 3:8-9)  So, what did Paul lose?  What was Paul's life like before his conversion, and what was it like after?  If his life got that much better, then there is reason to believe that his conversion was a fake.
     Before his conversion, Paul was an extraordinary Pharisee.  He was very learned in the Old Testament Scriptures and very zealous to defend them, even to the point of persecuting, imprisoning, and killing Christians to do it.  Paul had achieved a rock star status among the Jews as a great defender of the faith.  But then, the Lord Jesus appeared to him and called him out of that life to the Christian faith.
     So, how did Paul's life improve?  What did he gain?  He was despised, slandered, and marked for death.  On a number of occasions, he was arrested and beaten.  Once he was stoned and left for dead.  Several times he was imprisoned, and finally he was beheaded.  The thirty or so years Paul lived as a Christian were hard, stressful, and even torturous.  If you think that Paul's conviction was insincere, then you have to conclude he was an idiot.  In a worldly sense, his life was far better as a Pharisee.  And what did Paul say about this?  “For (Jesus') sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him...” (Philippians 3:8-9) 
     Prior to Paul's conversion, we regard him only as a persecutor of the Christian faith.  But if Paul was a faithful Pharisee, then he was not usually a violent man.  Paul would have been an upstanding, moral, decent man.  He tried to order his life according to the Commandments.  He went to worship faithfully, prayed frequently, fasted often, tithed, and gave alms to the poor.  If Paul was a faithful Pharisee, then he was a model citizen.  He had many fellow Pharisees who admired and supported him.  And he probably would have felt pretty good about the godly life he was living.  But after his conversion, Paul confessed: “For (Jesus') sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him...” (Philippians 3:8-9) 
     I am guessing most of you could claim to have lived a pretty decent life.  You come to church.  You offer help to your neighbors when you can.  Maybe you volunteer or give to charity.  Perhaps your job has given you the chance to provide much needed service to people.  You hold the door open for strangers.  You are polite in conversation.  You are honest at your job.  In addition to all the good things you have done, you can add all the times you had the chance to steal, lie, or give into any other sin, but didn't.  In other words, your reputation is pretty good.  If you did put together this kind of resume in your head, you are probably pretty accurate.  But if you commend yourself for your godly living and are confident of your place before God because you have been good, then your good works have become a snare.  That's because they can not save you.
     This is what the Lord says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?  And who shall stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart...” (Psalm 24:3,4)  Only what is holy can dwell with a holy God.  Then, God would have you ponder this: “Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from sin?” (Proverbs 20:9)  We cannot boast this much.  No matter how much good we may have done—and we may have done a lot—no one is clean and pure.  If you want to set foot in heaven, you must be righteous and pure.  But no one is.  Even when we want to be good, we aren't.  We don't curb our tongue the way we should, but blurt out unkind words about others.  We are not patient; we get miffed when we are forced to wait.  Even our loved ones are not loved like they should be.  Pasting on a happy face when you walk into church does not change the sins that reside in the home.
     That is why St. Paul regarded everything from his previous way of life rubbish.  No matter how moral, how honest, how charitable, how religious he was, it was not enough to make him righteous.  It is true for you, too.  Therefore, we keep our focus on the goal of our faith—to be found in (Jesus), not having a righteousness of (our) own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Philippians 3:9)  The only source of righteousness is Jesus Christ.  Only he has kept all the Commandments and is, therefore, righteous.  But Jesus credits his righteousness to you.  By faith, you receive the credit for what Jesus has done for you.  The Bible declares: “All of you who were baptized into Christ are clothed with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)  The very righteousness you need, Jesus supplies.  If everything is lost—and eventually, you will lose everything—with Jesus you  still have all you need.
     Therefore, we press on to the goal which lies ahead.  All of this, as St. Paul attests, is so that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10)  Obviously, we are not in heaven yet.  So, how do we keep what our Lord has given us?  St. Paul answers: Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)
     We press on to the goal which lies ahead.  We forget what lies behind us.  Whatever we have done does not matter.  We thank God that he accomplished good through us, and we pray that it continues to benefit others, but we do not take it into account.  Our good deeds don't save us.  Therefore, we forget them and press on.  On the other hand, we also forget the sins of the past.  If you are guilty of sins and if your past haunts you, do not take that into account either.  The Lord Jesus has taken your sins away.  Paul's sin of persecution may have haunted his memory, but it did not condemn him.  Neither do the sins of your past—no matter how horrible they may have been.  All of our unkind words, impatient sighs, and sinful pride are not covered by putting a happy, religious face on them.  Instead, Jesus Christ takes them away.  He has washed you clean in his blood which both wipes away all guilt and covers you in Jesus' innocence.  Therefore, we forget what lies behind us, whether good or bad.  The good does not save us, and the bad does not condemn us.  We press on to the goal which lies ahead.  We focus on Jesus and his promises and his salvation.  For, only Jesus provides the resurrection which brings the perfect, sinless, glorious, eternal life we seek.
     We press on to the goal with lies ahead.  When we talk about how we are saved, everything outside of Jesus is rubbish.  When we talk about how we live as Jesus' redeemed, our lives are not rubbish.  We are devoted to receiving blessings from Jesus through his word and sacrament.  This is how we strengthens us so we can press on.  We are devoted to serving our neighbor in love—seeking his good, forgiving his sin, and demonstrating God's love.  This is what we do with our lives as we press on.  We press on in faith and in action—sharing in Jesus' sufferings and becoming like him in his death, so that by we may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11, paraphrase)  In this way, we press on to the goal that lies ahead, knowing that Jesus has everything covered and supplies all we need.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.