|
Learning by
Imitation
(Full Sermon Text)
- by Rev Gilbert Wong
In the UK, there was a very popular entertainment TV show called “Stars in Your Own Eyes”. In each programme, the TV organisers would invite the some members of the public to imitate some famous singing stars. Having received and audited their voices, they would then be dressed up to as close to the original stars as cosmetics and clothes would allow. And these performers are to sing and sound like their original favourite stars. And at the end of the series, the best look-a-like wins the top prize. As Christians, the ‘Star in Our Own Eyes’ is Jesus. We are to imitate him in every way. In Philippians passage, the apostle Paul has at least two lessons to teach us from his experience of imitating Jesus. First, we are to imitate Christ with perfection as our goal (3:17-19) From Philippians 3: 1 to 11, Paul displayed his worldly and academic achievements to emphasise the fact that he had achieved much in this earthly life. And that if anyone could boast, he could boast even more. But all these achievements are nothing compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. And in order that these earthly achievements would not weigh him down, Paul considered them as waste, as dung. And Paul encapsulate this teaching in two verses: Philippians 3:12-14: (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 and sisters, 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. But Paul’s teaching faced opposition from at least two groups of people. One group believed they are perfect while Paul is not. There was this persistent belief that we can be prefect here and now. One of the main reasons why Paul speaks of his determination to press on towards the goal is because there were some who did not believe that that was necessary. After all, they are already prefect in the here and now, and therefore there is no need to strive for anything else. They have arrived! There was another group who believed that doing certain external duties would also guarantee them a place in heaven. These people believed that certain rituals and actions would protect them from God’s anger. They mistook form for spirit. They understood fasting as a way of twisting God’s arm to do a certain thing rather than a way of denying oneself so as to get closer to God. The form replaces the spirit. To these two groups of people, Paul had very harsh words for them. Paul described them as being ‘enemies of the cross’; ‘their destiny is destruction’; ‘their glory is their shame’ and ‘their god is their stomach’. They are evil in the eyes of Paul. These statements are not necessarily a comment on their moral performance. These people may have been very religious, honest, law-abiding citizens. But for Paul, if they faithfully performed their religious acts and duties but by those very acts keep them away from wholly dependence on God, they are evil. If their practices and beliefs set them in opposition to the gospel of grace, they are evil. Application Of course, nowadays we do not have people living who said that they are prefect. Their flaws would be too obvious to notice. What has actually happened is that such perfection has disguised itself in the common teaching found amongst some Christians. And that is once they are saved they are always saved. They believe that once they have accepted Christ, the ticket to heaven is guaranteed. Such people are quite happy to come to church and do thing very religiously. But what comes through is self-righteous attitude. Their attitude speaks as though they have already arrived. Paul’s answer to them is not that he is prefect but that he strives to be perfect. That means he still has a long way to go but he is not giving up. Paul leaves off every claim of perfection and gets busy with living the Christian life with all his might. The modern problem is not that people are imperfect. The problem is that people are doing nothing about their imperfections. They are busy with church activities – thinking that busyness would exempt them from noticing their imperfections. I have always found it strange that people in generally would work late into the night to please their bosses but does very little to please their God. Secondly, we are to imitate Christ with eternity in mind (3:20-4:1) Paul knew that some people of his time would see perfection as achievable here on earth. But Paul struggled and exerted himself by God’s assistance in the hope that one day he would reach the winning post and gain the prize. Paul reminded us that our citizenship is in heaven – that is the place to which we belong. Those who thought that perfection is achievable on earth or who placed their confidence in terms of their earthly achievements are seriously mistaken. This is because their home is not here on earth but their destiny is in heaven. Paul used a word to describe our earthly body as ‘lowly bodies’. Indeed, it is. I remembered a very wealthy man who came to visit my church several years ago. He had much going for him but his health began to fail him. But towards the end of his life, he accepted the Lord knowing that his human body is a lowly body. A body, like his wealth, could be easily destroyed. But Paul said that our lowly bodies would be transformed to be like Christ’s glorious body. That is to say that all that is done for Christ’s sake would be rewarded with imperishable things. Application As Christians, we yearn for the future at which perfection will be achieved. Christians may be straining now, morally struggling to attain. But the determination shows the seriousness with which Christians take their Christian life. The means to that perfection is provided for by God through Christ. The Spirit of God is working in us to perfect the life of Christ in us. The Gospels recorded for us how Jesus lived a prefect life while living amongst sinners. Through Christ, we now receive forgiveness. And having received forgiveness, we keep striving to attain perfection. All these are made possible because the Spirit of God has been given to the Church. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit before he commenced his ministry. We too have the Holy Spirit living within us. The Spirit of God would strengthen us more and more as we allow the Spirit of God free rein in our lives. We can accept our own failures and failures of others because perfection has yet to come. But that does not stop us from pursuing perfection. The only problem is that this present age seems to be more concerned about speed than direction. It has no patience to handle things that take time. Perfecting our imperfections take a lifetime and beyond. The pursuit of God and his perfection reveals the utmost seriousness of our devotion to God. In the light of it, Paul exhorts us to stand firm (4:1). The day will come when there will be complete transformation of our frail bodies to glory. So therefore, let us stand firm. Helen Keller (1880 – 1968) says that ‘Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human being. Apathy means indifference and this is something that no scientific discovery would ever be able to help. The decision lies within us – our human will. When we do what we can, God will do what we can’t. God assists us in our fervency but he does not take over decision making. There is sometimes also a fear of failure. The world has painted picture after picture of success. And that if you do not succeed, you are a failure. In the economy of God, it is not like that. Rather, it is to learn from the past, live for today and hope for tomorrow. In other words, having learned from it, we press on leaving our past behind. May God help us to pursue after perfection as a sign of our devotion to God. And that is taken by God as fruit of our repentant life. And yet that repentant life need not be overly burdened failures because perfection always sees beyond this earthly life to heaven. Let us pray. [Top] |
|
Church of the Ascension, 13
Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339 |