“Pressing Onward" a Sermon from February 21st 2016

Philippians 3:14-4:1

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

¹⁵Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

¹⁷Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.¹⁸For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.¹⁹Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

4Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Sermon:

I think many of you have probably heard me talk a lot about a spiritual life lately – about how we can grow spiritually. That life is a journey, a bit of a pilgrimage really. I had someone ask me recently if I’ve read Pilgrim’s Progress. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve touched it since I was a child. Despite the fact that it’s still on my shelf! I will say that I’ve read Paradise Regained, but that was for class so I suppose it doesn’t count.

Perhaps our spiritual lives are like that sometime. Perhaps we set prioritizes aside that we should take more seriously. Regardless though, we are all on a journey. Our paths may lead different directions, but we’re all on it the same.

It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the vicious cycles of life: the fast fashion of outlets like H&M –  who exploit women and children in horrible working conditions – all for the sake of an article of clothing that an article I read this week suggested would probably be worn no more than seven times. In a related sense, I saw a Russel Brand video this week where he talked about the viciousness of sexual-objectification that we can see in today’s societies. It’s all too easy to first see a person as an object, rather than another human being – to even be skeptical about the idea of love. Or, to make a final analogy, we can all too easily play into systematic forms of racism; whereby we make assumptions based upon someone’s skin tone or ethnic background. We can all too easily assume that their lives matter less than ours because they don’t share our culture, religion, or heritage.

Luckily there are people who vote with their dollars. It’s certainly difficult to find, but there are companies that make quality goods in ethical ways. Sometimes they’re even made in the U.S.A. Luckily, there are ways to center ourselves in the intentional practice of empathy. We can find ourselves overcoming our impulse to objectify and ground ourselves in a recognition of another person’s humanity instead – to root ourselves in practices of love. Finally, we can overcome systems of racism and ethnic objectification by focusing on the fact that we are all human and we are created in God’s image through, and not in spite of, our diversity.

The circles of shame and violence that can be a part of life can be overcome. But this cannot happen through what Paul here calls the “glory in their shame.” We, particularly we Americans, love to see ourselves as individuals. And sometimes we try to break out of our restraints through individual effort. Sometimes this is done through an attempt to corrupt or tear down. For some reason, we sometimes think that the best way to liberate ourselves is to find glory in something that is shameful. As a species, we have taken that phrase to new depths.

When we look at things like our political system, the prevalence of human trafficking, or our economy, it’s easy to think that we must be hell-bent on spreading degradation, humiliation, and shame. This is the end of a path set in ourselves – set in the promotion of the self – a path that is devoid of hope.

In some ways, our lot is like that of Abraham’s. He and Sarah were barren of child. Their position seemed bleak. So rather than trusting in God, he took it into his own hands and made matters worse. He slept with his slave and bore a son with her. As you can imagine this created some family drama. But eventually God did prove faithful and gave a son to Sarah and Abraham despite the fact that things had seemed so bleak. Sometimes we too act like Abraham and act impulsively, rather than out of trust.

The story of Abraham is a story we can all learn from. It teaches us about the role of faith in our salvation. Faith is that thing that helps us find salvation precisely because it moves us out of the hopelessness that we could dwell in. It allows us to believe in things we cannot not see, rather than the sensible and tangible things of the present. Faith is what can make a man like Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaim to the whole world that he had a dream. Faith takes our sight beyond the restraints of our own minds.

The message to Abraham and the message from Paul are essentially the same. God intrudes into our moments of despair and hopelessness with a promise. God give us outlandish promises that have no way of being fulfilled from a human point of view. But it is in the promises of God that we can find strength to look beyond the barrenness of the present and on towards a brighter tomorrow. Faith in the promises of God help us press on towards the prize before us – a future bright with hope and recreation. This is our hope – a future glimmering with possibility and recreation; a future where the weaknesses of our bodies will be transformed and the systems that oppress us will be abolished.

In this bright hope, we will find that “god is in [our] belly.” Or to put it another way, God can and will transform us and mold us into new people. Christ inaugurated this transformation in his death on the cross and his resurrection – things that we follow him into. And so when we let the Spirit of Christ reside within us we find a glimmer of hope because we begin to see this transformation happen. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” In the resurrection, we were all raised up with Christ into the promises that God made so long ago.

In Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have crossed over – from shame and death to freedom and life! And it is in this way that we, as Christians, are offered hope. Faith enables us to make the journey from hopelessness to the freedom that comes from “trusting God’s future.” Faith empowers us to believe beyond what we can see, so that we can work towards bringing hope out of hopelessness and new life out of death. Faith helps us find a liberty that takes us beyond the confines of our own failings.

This new path, this new way of seeing, is our new citizenship. This is our transformation. It is a transformation of mind and body that lets us see the possibility of new life in every death, that there is hope even in despair, light amidst the darkness, and hope in the midst of despair. If there is one thing that Paul can teach us, it is that the powers of this world our broken. The vicious circles of violence, apathy, and narcissism hold no power over the creator of the universe. The powers of the world are broken and frail, even if they’re all so evident. But Christ, who was with God at the creation of the world, is making all things new. The old will pass away and a new day will dawn – a day of true liberty, freedom, and justice. This is where our citizenship resides. We belong to the act of God’s recreation of the cosmos; and so it is through faith and hope that we press on and cling to dreams of equality, justice, and hope.