Philippians 3:7-13 – Starved or Stuffed 2020 – Bible study

Philippians 3:7-16 Starved or Stuffed Beginning In \#7\, Paul mentioned the loses he had experienced in following Jesus Christ. They would have been many and by mans measurements, they would have been great (position, power, privilege, pedigree, pride). righteousness. Yet, Paul said he counted those loses but dung in \#8\. Dung is manure. I will not say manure is worthless but when put on a list of things men treasures, it will not rank high on the list. Yet, that did not mean that Paul had no desires. He did. In fact, he had something he wanted very much. You can see it in the phrases he used: "that I may win Christ" \#8\ "that I may know him" \#10\ "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection" \#11\ "I count not myself to have apprehended" \#13\ "I press toward the mark" \#14\ Some use these verses to say that Paul had no assurance of his salvation. They say that no person can. They say that Paul wanted to make it to heaven. I say, "HOGWASH!" 1. Paul did not go into here, but the Bible makes it clear that Christians do not lose their salvation. \#John 10:28\ 2. Neither are these the words of someone who feared hell. Paul knew that even if he could lose his grip on Christ, Christ would never lose His grip on him. Phi 3:12 "that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" Paul did not want salvation. He had it. Neither did he want assurance of his salvation. He had that. What He wanted was something more than salvation, more than baptism, more than being filled with the Spirit, more than his ministry (which was great), more than speaking in tongues, more than anything he had thus far experienced or been apart of. He wanted something more! I. Paul want to know Jesus. A. Your first thought is, "You just said he knew Jesus." 1. Yes, but Paul wanted to know Him better. 2. Paul wanted to know Jesus more. B. Everyone is familiar with "peaking out." 1. No matter what we get. No matter how badly we wanted it, or even how hard we worked for it. Sooner or later, we lose appreciation for it and want something else. 2. You can see that in a toddle. Their attention span is very short so that even if you spend hundreds of dollars on their gift, 30 to 60 seconds later, they will set it aside and more on to something else. 3. Teenagers are older. Their attention span is longer, but even with things they will continue to use, their appreciation for most things will be gone in a few days to a few weeks. You will know when it happens because they will start to ask for other things. 4. This isnt a condemnation against them. It is just the human condition. 5. It happens to us adults too. Because we have to work for what we get and because we cant play with our toys every day, we may keep the excitement longer, a few months or many even a year or two; but sooner or later, we will set that toy aside and start looking for a new one. 6. The same thing happens to Christians. We may not mean for it to happen, but it does. At first, we love Jesus, want to know everything we can learn about Him, want to be at church, cant get enough of His Word; but then we peak, and begin to lose the excitement, the awe, the joy, the appreciation. C. Paul never "peaked out" on Jesus. 1. He went through all the steps we went through as a new Christian and many MORE, but he never peaked out. Paul never ceased to appreciate Jesus, to lose his excitement for Him, or to cease to want to know Him better. 2. The Bible gives us some of the mile markers of Paul life. a. \#Acts 13:11\ Paul performed what appears to be his first miracle. Most of us have never know Jesus so well that His power flowed through us like that, but Paul did. Still, Paul wanted to know Jesus more. b. \#Acts 27:23\ An angel from God came to stand before Paul and to deliver a message. How well does one have to know Jesus before that happens? But Paul did not cease to want to know Jesus more. c. \#2Cor 12:2-4\ Paul spoke of a certain man going to the third heave, the heaven where God lives. He never tells us who that person was, but I believe it was him. Paul went to see God!! He could not write what he saw and heard because they were unspeakable; that is, the earthly language could not describe them. Still, Paul desire to know Jesus more was not satisfied. he wanted to know Jesus more. 3. Paul never "peaked out" on his desire to know Jesus more. D. Understand, not all peaks that people "peak out" upon are bad peaks. 1. Some peak out on the peak of salvation. Salvation is great. It is glorious. It is eternal, but salvation is the end of our journey to know Jesus. It is the beginning. 2. Some peak out on the peak of sanctification, being filled with the Holy Spirit of God, having Gods Spirit flow through them, empower them, enlighten them. That is a great place to be but it is not the end of the journey. 3. Then some peak out on the peak of service. They serve God, perhaps in a large scale, perhaps to do great things; and they think, "I have arrived now." But they have not. The journey is not finished. E. Paul stood in the Valley of Humanity, saw and scaled the three peaks of Salvation, Sanctification, and Service, but he knew there was more. He wanted to know Jesus more. F. The Christian life is something like pilgrims landing on the shore of the new continent. 1. I dont recall from history how much exploration had already been done in the new world at that time, but it would not be hard to imagine that one might think, "We should see what is on the other side." The other side of this mountain, the other side of this stream, the other side of the plain. Perhaps they thought, "It cant be much farther to other side of this island. But no matter how far they journeyed, there was always more. 2. So it is in the spiritual life. No matter how many spiritual mountains we climb, there is another to climb. No matter how many spiritual rivers we forge, there is another to forge. No matter how many spiritual plains we cross, there is another to cross. G. Paul never "peaked out." Paul wanted to know Jesus. II. Paul did not stuff himself with the world. A. I think babies are born hungry. 1. I cant prove that because they cant talk when they are first born, but it seems as soon as you turn them upside down, slap their bottoms, and get them to breath, they want to eat. And for all the eating they do, you dont get any work. For the first few months, they are just recycling machines. 2. It is natural for babies to be hungry. Peter said that we as spiritual babies are likewise born with a spiritual hunger: to know Jesus, to know salvation, to know the Word. B. Keep that thought it mind while I give you three statements: 1. Everyone is devoted to something. a. Even if you are devoted to doing nothing, you do it religiously. b. Everyone is already consumed by something. c. Maybe you are consumed by Facebook, by work, by television, by eating, by sleeping, by texting, by partying, by lust, by greed, by pleasure, by bitterness but everyone has something that consumes them. 2. The thing that a person devotes himself to, is the thing that he starves for and stuff himself with. 3. The key to being starved for Jesus is to exchange what we are stuffed with for what we want to be starved for. a. Too many Christians have been sidetracked, stuffed if you pleased, with other things, with carnal things. b. This seems so logical to us. After all, we live in a carnal world, but if we are stuffed with carnal things, we cannot be starved for Jesus. C. Here is the thing: In the spiritual world, you cannot be starved with more than one thing. 1. At the dining room table, you can; but not the spiritual table. 2. It cannot be Jesus and something else. 3. Because our attention span is so short, it is amazing how quickly attention can be diverted away from the things of God. a. You have to admire someone like Paul. b. He was not at the beginning of his ministry, but III. Paul sustained his starvation for Jesus. A. All of the phrases were reading earlier tells us that Paul was a man who was starving for Jesus. 1. I do not know how to do that. 2. Yet, I see something in Pauls life that might be a help to us. B. Paul was steadfast in his desire. Phi 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 1. Rock climbers as they go up the rock face, periodically tie off and let the other people know they are doing so. a. The reason for that is so in case they lose their grip or footing, they will only fall so far. b. They will not fall below a certain point. c. Christians need to tie off spiritually. 2. How does a Christian tie off? a. There is a truth that might help you. b. You need to remember that the things that brought us to Christ are the things that will keep us with Christ. 3. Many of you were taken to church three times a week as a child. a. Shortly after your birth, that practice was begun. b. But now that you have gotten older, perhaps are making your own decisions, you have allowed other things to take the place of attending church. c. You need to tie off. d. The things that brought you to the place where you are in Jesus (saved, assured, wanting to serve, wanting to give), are the things that will keep you with Jesus. e. The very things that made you into the person you are today, are the things that will keep you the person that you are today. 4. The same thing is true of Bible reading and quiet time. a. It has been the habit of some most of their lives, but now a change has come. (1) Maybe your business has really taken off (2) Or maybe you have reached retirement b. Whatever it is, you have allowed it to change what you did to become who you are. c. You need to tie off. d. The things that brought us to Christ are the things that will keep us with Christ. 5. The same is true of having the presence of God in your life. a. You need fresh oil, and fresh visit from God. b. If you did not get it at church, youd go looking for it by listening to a radio preacher or searching for it in Christian music. 6. Many years ago, I coined an expression: "When you cut yourself loose from the anchor of Gods Word, you have no idea where the ship of your life will drift. a. That same thing is true of your church attendance, of your prayer time, of your devotion to Christ, you do not know where the ship of your life will drift. b. Christian, you need to tie off. c. We must be steadfast. C. Paul was single-minded. Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection. 1. Apparently, Paul kept this as his single goal throughout his Christian life. a. To be honest, that is a bit difficult for most of us. b. Most of us started out too carnal. c. That is all right. We can grow into giving ourselves to a single purpose. (1) My first lifes verse was: Zech 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (2) Eventually I changed it to 2Cor 5;17 because that is my testimony. 2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (3) But if I did not have a lifes verse, I might claim a portion of Matthew 25:21. Matt 25:21 Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant. (4) That would make a good lifes verse. 2. It does not matter how old you are or how much time you think you have left on this planet, every Christian needs a holy, single-minded purpose to give themselves to. D. Paul made sacrifices. 1. Years ago, a preacher challenged his congregation with this simple but strong statement, "You cannot have everything." 2. You cannot have the world with all of its comforts and pleasures AND have Christ and the fullness of His presence. 3. I believe part of the reason our world is where it is today is because Gods people have thrown on the heap of sacrifices the things that should have kept and kept the things they should have thrown on the heat of sacrifices. Now, we must make some decisions. We cannot have all this world offers and all that Christ can give us. We must choose. Will you be stuffed with the world and staved for Christ. Or will you be stuffed with Christ and staved for the things of this world. Choose carefully.