Fasting Encouragement Day Eight

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Hello church family! I want to invite you to read Philippians 3:12-4:1 with me and allow the Holy Spirit to encourage you and speak to your heart today.

One of the most fun, and often equally frustrating things about raising kids, is teaching them life skills. Once our boys are old enough to walk, talk, and grab something, they’re automatically enrolled in Daddy’s school of cleanup. It evolves from picking up a little piece of paper on the floor, to clearing and cleaning the kitchen after supper. As of late, due to a broken dishwasher, we’re in a “fun” phase, teaching the older boys to wash and dry the dishes. They’ve seen daddy do dishes for years, so they know the general idea around it. However, to achieve clean dishes, one must learn the tricks of the trade… the sparkle comes from doing the little details right. To show them “the way” I could try drawing pictures, or writing letters, or even just telling them what to do over their shoulder, but the way they learn best is to watch me closely as I clean with them. “Look son, I like to use the little brown scraper to get in the corners of this pan, but then I use the scrubby to make sure it gets clean”… “Look, if you hold the towel like a glove instead of bunching it up, and you’ll dry it faster and without streaks.” This “watch and learn” technique is how you achieve sparkly clean dishes from one generation to the next, and it’s also how you disciple people in the way of Jesus.

Twice Paul uses this language, “imitate me as I imitate Christ,” in his letter to the church in Corinth to outline Christlike practice and community. However, when Paul writes similar words: “join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us” (vs17), here in Philippians, they have a bit of a different weight and meaning. Here’s why. Second Timothy is believed to be Paul’s final epistle before his martyrdom, and because of some clear parallels in the letter we’re reading, some believe that he wrote the book of Philippians around the same time. This means that these were some of the last words Paul put to papyrus, with a fairly good sense that they could be his last. So what we see here, in the book of Philippians, is Paul giving accounts of his own story, his life secrets (4vs12), telling of his deep and absolute love and trust in the person of Jesus, and in the end, the meaning of it all… “watch and learn,” he says.

10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Just think, many historians believe that Paul (Saul at the time) was in Jerusalem during Jesus’ ministry, trial and crucifixion! In this 3rd chapter of Philippians we see Paul’s greatest desire revealed, the “goal” and the meaning of it all for him. It is none other than his desire to follow his rabbi, his master, to the same glorious end (which we know is not the end). Paul takes it seriously when he writes in Romans 6, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Paul’s goal is to accept Jesus’ invitation to “watch and learn,” to “follow me,” and to lay his life down in the same way he most likely witnessed during the crucifixion. This was his goal, but what of the prize?

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

If the laying down of his life in martyrdom is the goal, the prize is none other than resurrection from the dead in complete and perfected union with Christ!

We don’t live in a world like Jesus and Paul did, we aren’t persecuted unto the shedding of blood. So how do we participate in what Jesus and Paul are inviting us to? We participate firstly by being baptized, which is a tangible AND mystical way that we enter into Christ’s death and into NEW life! We participate secondly, by living the cruciform life… the life shaped like a cross of self-giving sacrifice. When we “watch and learn” from Jesus, and the Apostles, we learn to live in other-centred, self-giving love. We learn to lay our lives down by taking care of the widow and the orphan, by healing the sick, by feeding the poor and clothing the naked. We also lay our lives down by honouring co-workers when we’ve been wronged, loving and forgiving our family when we’ve been wounded, and by serving our spouse or our kids when we want to be served. These are all ways that we live the cruciform life: as living sacrifices, Holy and acceptable; this is true spiritual worship. This is precisely the fast that Jesus is calling us to participate in today. Be encouraged and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live the cruciform life today.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Josh