November 8, 2015 A.D., by Pastor Ben Willis

Paul’s Letter To the Philippians 3:1-11 [NLTse]
Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Sermon
Can anyone remember a time when you lost at something, when there was nothing more important to you than to win but for the first time in your life you realized that you just weren’t good enough and you never would be?

Yeah, if that’s never happened to you you’ll never be able to fully understand it. And if it has happened to you, likely, you’ll never completely forget it.

Anyone here ever been in love? [Let folks respond.] Yeah, people write about it, sing about it, paint and carve and sculpt about it, but it can never truly be described to someone who’s never known it. The strength and the weakness; the sense of absolute accomplishment and utter helplessness; to possess that which you want most of all in the whole world along with the humble, fragile feeling that it’s all hanging on a string…

Anyone here ever had your heart truly broken? The devastation and feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, and emotions you never thought you were capable of having overflowing your world…

Does anyone here know the complex pride of being a parent? How you can be so elated by rather trivial things, as long as they’ve been accomplished by your child? Being both proud of your kid while at the same time being so proud of yourself for being that child’s parent…

Anyone here ever worked a job you despised? Where you could literally feel it eating away at you from the inside?

Anyone here ever experience the rush of proposing to or being proposed to by the right person? When time stopped? The high that comes in thinking that everything in your life will now be alright forever?

Yeah, there are some things in life that a person can never understand unless they’ve experienced them themselves. And, of course, there are many such experiences. Knowing Christ is like that.

If you know Jesus, you know what I mean. If you don’t know Jesus, you can never know what I mean until, that is, you come to know Him.

For me, knowing Jesus is like coming home at the end of a long, hard day and seeing my wife, Amy. In the midst of all my burdens and confusion, our kids are all there – Noah, Eden, and Caleb – and Amy and the kids are more happy to see me than I am to see them! Knowing Jesus is like that. For me. …

For me, knowing Jesus is like being pulled over by the police and me going through my head all the things I might’ve been doing to be pulled over, and feeling kind of guilty and embarrassed because I’m a Christian and a pastor and getting ready to apologize for whatever it was I must have done wrong, but then having the officer be my friend who just pulled me over to say “hi” and he’s so happy to see me. Knowing Jesus is like that to me…

For me, knowing Jesus is like leaning up against my mom or dad reading, or cuddling on the couch with Amy and our kids watching a movie. We’re not talking or even interacting in any way, we’re just enjoying each other’s company. Knowing Jesus is like that to me…

For me, knowing Jesus is like when one of the guys in Bible Study pulls me aside and tells me about something I’ve been saying or doing that hasn’t been a good thing. We’re such good friends, and I know he cares about me so much, that I welcome the correction and truly want to be better out of love for my friend. Knowing Jesus is like that to me…

For me, knowing Jesus is like having all the bad stuff I’ve ever done or that’s ever been done to me come to my mind all at once, and me being ready to hate myself and feel like a worthless loser, but suddenly realizing that it all happened to someone else, and that I’m somebody else now…

Knowing Jesus is like when I’m running late to an appointment and having all the lights turn green along the way and all the roads and highways are wide open or filled with cars and trucks going just as fast as I am. And, although I left so late that it was impossible for me to get there on time, I do, arrive in plenty of time…

Knowing Jesus is like speaking at a political rally but not being able to find my speech. I get up and talk and feel like I’ve let everyone down because of my lackluster words but seeing the crowd inspired, and watching them leave filled with hope and committed to do the right thing out there no matter what! Knowing Jesus is like that to me…

With a God like that, nothing else in my life means very much to me. And yet, because of a God like that, everything else in my life has become that much more precious! But only because of Him. There’s nothing I’ve ever been able to buy or anything I’ve ever been able to make happen by myself that can compare with all that Father gives me each and every time I turn to Him in Jesus. Nothing. I have a lot to be proud of, a lot I could brag about. But compared to Christ and all He’s given me in salvation, I count all the rest as skubala: Garbage; waste; raw sewage (most literally) when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord

Anybody else here know what I mean when I talk about Jesus these ways? [Hopefully there’ll be a “yes”.] If knowing Jesus is like this for anyone else here, won’t you bow your heads right there in your seats: Clasp your hands together and bow your heads in worship and adoration. Love Him in your heart. Let your love for Him well up in your hearts!

Now, if knowing Jesus is like this for you, lift up your hands to Heaven! Not because it’s right to worship Jesus by bowing down, nor because it’s right to worship Him by raising our hands. Lift up your hands to God’s throne with me because He is worthy; because He’s worth it; worth our everything!

This is the month of November, a month that many often associate with gratitude on account of Thanksgiving. Coming towards the end of the year, it’s also the time that many businesses and organizations establish their plans and their budgets for the coming year. And it’s a time when many people, likewise, take special time to evaluate their lives and their priorities and make plans and set goals for how they want their lives to be across the year ahead.

With that in mind, we’re going to have some special inserts in our Worship Bulletins across the next couple of weeks challenging us with who we are in Christ and all that God has given us and called us to by saving us through our faith in the cross of Jesus. I’m going to be preaching about some of the ways God has called us to fullness of life, a fullness that shows itself through giving and sharing and helping provide for the needs of others because we’re trusting our Father to provide for us. A fullness of life that we can’t know when we are stingy with our time, talents, and treasure, and when we give in to only looking out for ourselves and trying to please ourselves.

It will all culminate on the last Sunday of November – November 29th – the first Sunday of Advent, Recommitment Sunday here at First Church, when we will renew our baptismal vows, share the Lord’s Supper together, and when we will commit all that we have and all that we are to Him Who has given His everything and all to us.
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Remember, it’s not doing good that makes us righteous before Father. We become righteous by trusting in Christ: Trusting what He has done for us.