Enemies of the Cross Philippians 3:17-4:1 The Second Sunday in Lent: February 24, 2013 Pastor Mark Wiesenborn St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our message for today is taken from the Epistle Lesson in Philippians, where Paul warns US: As I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. My friends, let s imagine for a moment that it s Saturday night and whether this means it is your date night, or family night let s say as one possibility you are in the mood to get out of the house for a movie night. You walk in the building, and instantly you have to make choices. At the concession stand, do you choose the popcorn or nachos? Entering the theater, do you prefer an aisle seat so you won t have to sit by a stranger (even if you have to move every time someone comes or goes) or opt for a middle seat? As the show is ending, do you stay and watch the credits or race for the exits to avoid crowds? Choices are made all over the place. It s cliché but true life is full of crossroads. And not all of our choices and options are as simple or as pointless as those at the movie theater. There s a lot resting on the choice to accept the job five states away from the family. It s a huge decision to have another child. It is a big deal to refinance. Each of those and so many more can have major ramifications, for good and bad, for years to come. But nothing tops spiritual crossroads. While picking a college is important, it doesn t necessarily have much bearing on your relationship with God. But every day we face choices between service to God, or serving ourselves; between sacrificing all to God, or indulging in sin; between faithfulness, or disobedience. The stakes can t be higher. These crossroads could have eternal significance. And the only thing that 1
matches their importance is the difficulty in making them. We know what God commands and expects, but we also know how persuasive our sinful self is. What do we do? Today on this Second Sunday of Lent, let s picture these next few weeks as a trip, one to be filled with repentance and calling on God. No one enjoys admitting guilt to God. Each mile brings greater realization of what Jesus went through for us. And it ends with Jesus on the cross we put him on by our sin. Doesn t Lent bring you to a crossroad? Isn t there a desire to press on, yet an equally strong desire to give in, to give up and take a seat on the sidelines? Of course there is. The journey of faith has always been a crossroad for God s people. Satan wants nothing more than for us to see this march as too painful, even unimportant or unnecessary. He wants our attention on how easy the other path, the path of self service is. He wants our eyes big at the thought of having and doing what we want. A cross-road indeed. What will we do? Knowing our weaknesses, we turn to God, just as Paul did, and seeking his strength, we head down the less traveled road, as the poet Robert Frost describes it in The Road Not Taken. Simply put, that less traveled road is the path of service and sacrifice; of repentance and faith. And Paul certainly took that path. He s writing this Epistle from jail, imprisoned because his message to repent and look to Jesus as your Savior offended powerful people. His crossroad was this: quit preaching and say he was wrong, or hold to God s truth and suffer. Paul himself admitted this was no easy thing. Earlier he asks the Philippians to pray for him that he s strong and does the right thing. This was tough for Paul. It would be tough for any of us. And the people he was writing to, the Philippians, had their crossroads as well. Most of them were new to the Christian faith and were being persecuted. If they would only join in worshiping false gods and make the customary sacrifices at pagan temples, that persecution would end. But if they held together as one body in God s Word, they would suffer. Paul knows what it s like to face such decisions. And he knows how easy it 2
would be for them to go down the well traveled, the pleasant road of self satisfaction. So he writes to encourage them. What does he say? To keep going down that less traveled, godly road, and hold to the pattern he and others passed on to them. It may seem odd Paul doesn t tell them to follow Jesus pattern, since he was always right. But Paul had a reason for saying this. Do you remember when those WWJD bracelets first became popular? What would Jesus do? He s Jesus! He can only do the right thing. Do we need a rubber wristband to remind us of Jesus perfection? Paul speaks as he does so the people know they can make it down this road. Jesus completed that journey to the Cross to accomplish the work of salvation, but his life of faithful obedience was a great and powerful example that enables believers to follow him. Think of the power of Paul saying this: Even I, as one who hunted down Christians to be killed by God s grace, even I can continue down this right road. If God did that for me, can t he for you too? Paul makes it real for the people. Don t think this is impossible. Follow Jesus; He will help you do it. For nothing is impossible with God. That s the right road to serve God, and carry your cross. But there s the other road, the wide road that promises ease, joy and comfort. To go that way, Paul says, is to be an enemy of the cross. It sounds harsh to suggest that the man who works eighty hours a week so he can have a good income is an enemy of Jesus. He s a nice guy! He gives to charity! He bought his mom a new home! Those are all commendable things. How can he be an enemy of Jesus? Jesus himself said it. Those who are not for him are against him. To think and live like that guy is to deny Jesus command to repent of sin, to humble yourselves before God and fix your hearts on the treasure of salvation. While that kind of life may look good on the outside, filled with noble deeds and kind acts, Paul tells us how it ends destruction spiritual bankruptcy. This is the crossroads that the Philippians, and Paul, and we ourselves come to. And it is not just now. We are perpetually at this crossroad. There will always be that temptation to set your faith aside and indulge 3
in what will bring immediate, short term, satisfaction. Need examples? You can earn double working on Sunday, or you can take the family to church. You can surf Internet websites with inappropriate adult content, or you can think about what is noble and pure and admirable. You can build up your neighbor or pass on damaging rumors about him or her. All of these are crossroads in our lives. How have you fared? Would a Private Investigator be able to research your life and find every time you took the hard, less traveled path of service to God, not self? Look again at Paul s bad road option. Haven t we each at times lived as enemies of Christ? Peter sinned in denying he knew Jesus. Haven t we done that as we hid our faith from those we work and live around? Allies with Jesus would be proud to speak of him. But in hiding it, we ve acted like the enemy I do not know him! Paul says going down that road means our stomach is our god. Like our stomachs, our sinful nature has an appetite that needs to be fed. Have we fed it lately, fed it with angry outbursts (which feel good for awhile), with lies (so we can do what we want), and with sleep instead of diligence? Hasn t this world often taken precedence over what God wants? And that last one, glorying in shame haven t we all done that at some point? We all have memories, including memories of sin. Do those shame us, that we drank too much or went too far, or do we look fondly on the good old days? It s not limited to the past. As we gather with the guys and girls, can we always say everything is right and we re only rejoicing in God pleasing, and God praising things? Too often we ve stood at that crossroad and said NO to Jesus. I won t serve; I want to be served. I won t follow; I want to lead. I won t sacrifice; I want to indulge. That s setting us up as enemies of Jesus cross, one that calls for repentance, humility and trust in him. Often we ve been our own gods, and the end of that road should be what Paul 4
says destruction. The question is this, one Paul asks in Romans: Who will save me from this body of death? Who will get me off this wrong road and get me on the right one? Thank God we have the answer. Christ alone salvation is found in no one else. By his traveling that road perfectly for us, he is able and does lift us from the path of destruction and places us onto the other. And Paul makes this point by talking about citizenship. Without Christ, we would gladly pledge our allegiance to this world and all it offers. We would march lock step with the citizens of this world down that easy yet wrong road. But due to Christ, our citizenship is in heaven. We belong there it is our home. And all the benefits of citizenship are ours. We are at peace with the leader. We receive favor. We will never be kicked out. How can that be? Who can erase my crossroad failures in the past that I am worthy of such an amazing blessing? Again, only Jesus. Think of it this way. Jesus marched to that cross. He did so not for himself but for us, people who were formerly his enemies. We did not want him to go, and did not see the value in him doing it. But he went. And in doing so, he offered up his life as a perfect sacrifice for ours. The sin debt had to be paid. The price for all our wrong decisions was his life, the life of the Son of God. But for you and me, he gladly and fully paid that price. He did his work perfectly. What keeps us falling back into the sin we were saved from? Paul says two things to help. One, he says we are to keep our eyes on heaven with an attitude of eager expectation for the Day when Christ returns in glory. In time, he will come and we will enter eternity. This should encourage us, knowing that the time of temptation will end. As a runner can t wait for the full endorphin rush once he ends the marathon, so we can t wait for the peace, love, joy and perfection that await us when our walking of this less traveled road is complete. The Holy Spirit works in us through 5
the Gospel, fixing our eyes on what Jesus did and what that means. And second, go back to what Paul said before. We are not alone on this road. Yes, we have Jesus, and that is best, but in love Jesus gives us each other. In the movie The Return of the King, Frodo knows he has to destroy the powerful magic ring to bring an end to the bad guy s tyranny. But part of him wants to keep it, and he s so weak that he is in danger of giving in, and giving up. Just when he can go no further, his buddy Sam picks him up and carries him the rest of the way. The easy, wide road promises so much but never delivers. The less traveled road, the one Jesus walked, the one Paul walked, which they both urge us to continue walking, is one that delivers beyond our wildest dreams. God will keep you on that road. Our Savior s work then and now, and the Holy Spirit working through others on your behalf assures it. Yes, you have failed and so have I, and so has each person here today. But where we have failed, Jesus has succeeded. By his grace alone, we will walk that road this Lent. We will walk to the cross in self denial and humility. We will see what he did for us and repent. And as we keep walking to that empty tomb we will rejoice, for we know that our road has a glorious end. And we will continue to walk that road every day. Our Savior has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. In the mercy and grace of God s great love, we are on this less traveled road and now, as always, that has and will continue to make all the difference! In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen! 6
EPISTLE LESSON Philippians 3:17-4:1 [NIV] 3:17 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. 4:1 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends! 7