Preached by Gregory W. Lee
9 July 2006
I. Introduction-- turn in Bibles to Philippians 3
10. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11. and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
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, 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.
15. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
16. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
18. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
20. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21. who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
-- as we begin our time together this morning, I want you to stretch your mind and use your imagination -- I want you to imagine that you are a little bird who lives in a tiny cage made of rusty metal -- inside of this cage are the things that you need to be alive -- you've got a food bowl -- a water dish -- a little mirror -- and a tiny perch to swing on
-- day in and day out you live in this little cage -- this is your world -- and you're relatively happy there -- you have food -- you have water -- you can sit in your swing all day and have fun -- you have company because there are lots of other cages just like yours next to you with lots of other little birds in them -- and some days you just sing with joy because of your life and all the things you have
-- but one day, your owner takes your cage outside and hangs you from a hook on the porch -- and all of a sudden, your world is expanded -- you look out and see trees covering the hills and valleys as far as you can see -- there are bushes drooping with purple berries -- fruit trees covered with fruit of all kind -- carpets of wild flowers -- and a wide blue sky to fly in -- and besides all these things, there are millions of other little birds hopping from one green limb to another and eating their fill -- raising their little families and singing their hearts out all day long
-- after just a few hours, your owner comes back and brings your cage back inside and puts you back in your spot -- as he puts you back he whispers to you, "one day, I will come back and take you outside and set you free -- you will be free to go outside on your own forever -- you will be part of the world that you just saw" -- your owner walks off and you look around and see all your familiar things in their familiar settings -- your food bowl -- your water dish -- your mirror and your little perch -- surrounded by the other cages with the other little birds -- everything is just the same as it was
-- now I want you to imagine what would be going on in your mind as you sit there in your rusty little cage, surrounded by your neighbors in their own little rusy cages -- after having seen the great big outdoors with all of its many pleasures, what would you be thinking? -- what would you be doing? -- what would you be telling your neighbors? -- would it change the way you live? -- can you imagine going through the rest of your life wanting to stay in your cage? -- can you imagine saying, "I don't want to go outside -- I would miss my cage -- I would miss my little food bowl with seeds in it -- I would miss my plastic mirror and my tiny little perch -- I might get bored outside"
-- no, of course not, you wouldn't think that -- you would start spending all your time thinking about the day you would be free in the world -- you would start spending all your time thinking about what you will do when you get there -- the things you will see and the places you will go -- you would start telling others of the world to come -- of the joy that awaits in just a little while -- your focus would shift from your own little world to the wonders of the world to come
-- well, I know we're not really birds, but this little illustration that I adapted from a Larry Libby book makes a great point -- a lot of Christians today spend all their time worrying about their rusty little cage and all the things inside of it and spend little or no time thinking about their life to come in the future as they enter eternity in Heaven with the Lord -- somehow, we've forgotten what is important and we've shifted our focus from heaven to earth and started living for today rather than for the life to come
-- as Ted Dekker writes, in order to live our lives here on earth as God intended, we need to awaken our passion for heaven and for God -- it is something that we once had, and it's something that we have lost -- most Christians today are just like the church at Ephesus as described in the book of Revelation -- we're going through the motions of life without our driving passion -- without our first love -- that we need to focus our time here on earth
-- this morning, I want us to focus on what it means to be passionate for heaven -- to be passionate for God and His presence -- to consider how we should live as strangers and aliens in this land who are just passing through on the way to our real home in heaven
II. Scripture Lesson
-- the Apostle Paul was just like the bird in our illustration -- he had been given an actual glimpse of heaven and it changed his life forever -- that is why he wrote in Phil 1, "to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far"
-- Paul knew, better than most, of the joys and pleasures that awaited in heaven -- it became his driving passion -- it became the thing that led him forward -- that kept him going through the pain and suffering and the pleasures in his life -- it became the prize and the goal for which he strove with every ounce of his being -- it was his hope -- his reason for living
-- and so, he encourages the Christians in Philippi -- and us -- in this passage -- to approach our lives here with that same passion -- with that same hope -- as he had
-- look back at verse 10
10. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11. and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
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, 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.
15. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.
-- what do you think of when you think of heaven? -- is it a place that excites your mind -- that quickens your heart? -- is it a place that you really look forward to?
-- probably not -- most Christians don't have a realistic vision of heaven -- we think of floating around on clouds all day -- playing harps and singing music that we really don't like to sing outside of church on Sunday morning -- if you're like most of us, you think of heaven as one big church service, 24/7, with no end -- not really the sort of place that you want to spend eternity -- Mark Twain once remarked that he'd much rather go to hell than to a place like that, because at least it would be exciting
-- but is that what heaven is really like? -- Paul had been there -- Paul had seen it and experienced it with his own eyes and with all his senses -- and, more than anything else, he wanted to get back to it as soon as possible -- that is why he wrote that "to die is gain" and that he desired to depart and be with Christ in heaven -- Paul thought of heaven as a prize -- as something that he longed for and strained for with all of his being -- as something that he hoped to win in the end
-- in Psalm 126 and in Isaiah 55, we are given a picture of what it will be like when we enter heaven -- when we step from our world and into the next -- Psalm 126:1-2 says, "When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed -- our mouths were filled with laughter -- our tongues with songs of joy" -- Isaiah 55:12 says, "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
-- hardly sounds like a place of boredom -- it sounds like a place that we should be excited to think about -- like a place that we should be longing to go to -- I remember when I was a kid -- we didn't have all the things and all instant entertainment like the kids today have -- and I remember one summer, my parents told me that we would be going to Disney World later that year -- I remember the excitement -- I remember the anticipation -- it was all I thought about -- it was all I talked about -- I spent my days imagining what it would be like -- picturing it in my head -- and then, when the day arrived and we climbed on that monorail and soared over the park and into that magical world, I was just so overwhelmed with how wonderful it really was -- it was so much better than I ever imagined
-- that feeling of anticipation -- that feeling of excitement and longing is exactly what Paul is trying to transmit to the Philippians in this passage -- he knew what heaven was going to be like and he wanted them to be as excited about going to heaven as he was
-- you know, the Bible doesn't give us a clear description of heaven, because I think heaven will be a little different for all of us -- Jesus said that heaven would be paradise -- and I imagine that it will be a place that is created just for us -- a place of unending joy and pleasure and happiness -- filled with all the things that you enjoy and that you find pleasure in -- everything that you experience here -- all the fun and all the joy and all the pleasure you experience here on earth is only a foretaste of what you will experience there -- they are like appetizers for the meal to come
-- think about what makes you happy -- think about the things in life -- the things you do -- that bring you joy -- you will experience all of these in heaven, only more so -- down here on earth, you might have your little food bowl and your water bowl and your perch to swing on -- but in heaven, you will have an endless banquet from which to feast at -- endless opportunities for pleasure and excitement and joy -- endless moments with family and friends -- and, more importantly, endless time with someone who loves you deeper and greater and more extravagently than anyone else -- Christ Himself
-- Paul says, "This is what you should be looking towards -- this is our goal -- this is our hope -- this is what we were created for and what we are longing for -- this is where we are headed -- and this should be what drives you -- you should be living your life with this as your destination -- forgetting what is behind and straining forward against all the things of this earth until you finally win the prize that God has prepared for you -- life in heaven with Christ!"
-- in verse 15 he says, "this is the way the mature Christian looks at life"
-- but, unfortunately, most of us don't go through life with our eyes towards heaven -- we don't have our eyes on the prize at the end of the race -- at the goal that we are supposed to be running towards -- look at verse 16
16. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17. Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
18. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
-- I'm afraid that most of us are just like those Paul described here in verse 19 -- our minds are on earthly things and not on the things of God -- we focus our attention on what we can get out of this life instead of preparing for the life to come
-- this weekend, we took off and went to Atlanta for a couple days to just get away -- to go to the aquarium and to spend some time shopping and just enjoying ourselves -- over the weekend, we went to several Christian bookstores -- and as I wandered through the aisles, I noticed something -- I didn't see a single book on heaven -- every book I saw dealt with the subject of living life in the here and now
-- there were books on how to have better marriages -- on how to get better relationships -- on how to have more money and how to be good stewards of what God has given us -- there were books on recognizing the joys of life and how to find pleasure in the things God has provided -- there were books on how to get out of debt -- and books on how to get out of sin -- books on how to be freed from addiction and books on a variety of subjects -- but there wasn't a single book on heaven and about how to live life here on earth with our eyes focused on our goal
-- Paul says that that is not the way to live -- we should be going through life with our attention focused on what is to come -- we should be approaching life like a kid waiting to go to Disney World or like a bird longing to be set free into the wide blue yonder
-- instead, we spend all our time focused on the things of earth -- things that are fleeting and transient and that will pass away -- as I was wandering through that book store, it struck me that most Christians approach life like little kids approach baseball
-- have you ever watched a group of little kids -- I'm talking 4 and 5 year olds -- play baseball? -- they are doing everything in the world but actually focusing on the game -- the right fielder is standing out there watching birds and other players are on their bellies in the grass watching ants crawl up a blade of grass -- some are facing the wrong way -- very few of them are even aware of what's going on -- how can they even think of catching a ball when one is hit to them? -- there's just too much other stuff distracting them
-- that is what is going on with a lot of Christians -- we find ourselves distracted by the things of this world and we don't focus on what the Bible tells us is important -- Paul tells us here that our mind should be on the prize -- on our future life with God in heaven -- because that is what is truly important -- look at verse 20
20. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21. who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
-- Paul says that we are not citizens here, so we shouldn't get too comfortable on earth -- we need to spend our time and our effort and all our being preparing for the time when we are called home -- for the time when we will be ushered into the paradise of heaven with our Lord and Savior -- for the time when we will be transformed from earthbound creatures living in rusty little cages to glorious creations feasting at a heavenly banquet and enjoying all the pleasures of God
III. Closing
-- let me ask you this morning, "what is your passion? -- what drives you and propels you on through life? -- is it the things of this world? -- are you sitting in your little rusty cage, happy with your little food bowl and water bowl and little mirror -- or are you longing for something better -- for something more -- for something greater?"
-- Paul tells us that the secret to life on earth is to focus on life in heaven -- to forget the things behind us -- to not be distracted by the temporary pleasures and pain of earth -- but to focus our attention and our life on getting to heaven and on the joys that await us there
-- he tells us to picture our earthly pleasures for what they are -- foretastes -- appetizers -- of what is to come -- he tells us to look past our earthly pain and suffering to the joy that is set before us -- he tells us that our goal should be heaven and not anything on earth
-- I think this is an important concept that is missing in our lives today -- even as Christians we have gotten too wrapped up in living life in the here and now that we have forgotten why we were created -- I want to encourage you this morning to spend some time this week focusing on heaven and about what it will be like -- spend some time looking up passages on heaven in your Bible -- meditate on what the pleasures of heaven might be like -- and let your vision of heaven guide you and drive you as you seek the day when your faith will be sight and when all that you imagined of heaven will be unfolded around you
-- let us pray
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