Change Is Needed

Philippians 3:4b–14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 

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While it may seem out of character, I would say that I enjoy watching any television show with Chef Gordon Ramsey. If you're unfamiliar, Chef Gordon is known for his on-screen persona of cooking excellent food and stringing together choice words from the English language. The one show that I particularly enjoyed was Kitchen Nightmares, which placed Gorden Ramsey into these failing restaurants filled with conflict and tried to turn them around. After giving the establishment a make-over with a new menu and showing the owners and staff what was needed, they were set on a potential path to success. Unfortunately, not many of these places made the comeback they were hoping to achieve. Giving up old habits is difficult, even if the solution, the key to salvation, is plopped in your lap and yours for the taking. 

Paul understands this as he writes to the Church in Philippi. That there is tension between our present hope and the future hope ahead. Because you see in Christ, we have received the gift of life anew, and for Paul, this gift becomes the ultimate goal that holds our present hopes and future hopes together. The key to life has been placed into our laps, and Paul knows this, so he sets out to explain how we can work towards bringing the future hope closer day by day. As we begin to near the end of our Lenten journey, we find ourselves gazing upon life as Paul saw it, with one eye set on death (the casting off of the old ways that don’t work) and resurrection (the putting on of the new or embracing the key to new life given to us by Christ). This view is essential to our faith. While we live with our present hope inherited from Christ, we each day towards making the future hope more and more of a reality (and that takes effort on our part).

Our Inherited Solution

Let's break down Paul's inherited and future hope as we near the end of our Lenten journey. First off, Paul lays out his inheritance (the factors that give him an advantage in setting his eyes on the end goal of following Christ): 1.) He was a member of God's covenant people. 2.) He was an Israelite by birth. 3.) He comes from one of the two tribes considered to be faithful. 4.) He is the son of Hebrew parents. Now our inheritance doesn't look like Paul's. Many of us can't claim Paul's lineage, yet we can claim the promises given to us in Jesus Christ, who bestowed on each of us a new inheritance that grants us the tools we need to start making a transformational change here and now. The thing about this inheritance is that it's ours to make with what we choose. We move towards the hope of the resurrection or squander the gift of Christ. 

That's the thing about the inheritance we receive from Christ. It gives us the advantage to complete the task at hand, but it doesn't change everything on its own. It requires effort on our part. And if we don't put in the effort to change, we'll never make any progress towards bringing future hope into our midst. It's partially why restaurants fail even after Gordon Ramsey comes in and cleans house and starts them from scratch with a clean new look and menu. As I said earlier, old habits die hard, and we'll learn that we need to let things die (let them go) in order to set our sights on higher things. 

Faith In Action

Because he has received such blessings, Paul launches into an explanation of how this foundation propelled him to his current work. It allows Paul to observe the ordinances, the law, of God, endure hardships for the sake of God, and stand above reproach. The inheritance Paul received inspired him to push further toward achieving the "heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ." With our eyes set on death and resurrection, can we achieve the same passion that drives us toward the future hope? Paul believes we can. Paul believes that by God's grace, we can let go of our indignant words that divide instead of unify, our actions that harm instead of heal, and our thoughts that place ourselves at the head of the table instead of Christ. Christ has laid the sure foundation; it's up to us to take hold of those promises and make them a reality. 

As we reflect on Paul's words to the Church in Philippi, we should hear how they speak to us. What things have we inherited that make our work as agents of change possible? What obstacles are keeping us from setting our sights on the transformative power of Christ? And how are we spurring one another on in encouragement to take responsibility and act on their faith? We have some irons in the fire that might surprise you of things that might come to fruition, and we have some other irons of more sure things that will call us to focus on living out our faith actively and setting our sights on the "heavenly call." As we near the end of our Lenten season, let us not forget the critical fact that Christ has already done the groundwork necessary and paved the way for our success. So let us go and live boldly as ones touched by such power, making the radical message of Christ real and tangible in our present time.