Broken and Poured Out (Matthew 26.6-13)

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:6-13 ESV).

The woman in this account provides something that would have been absent from the narrative and its context: she is the only one who seems to be giving honor and showing devotion to Jesus. We would not expect the Religious leaders to honor Jesus, they are busily conspiring how to kill him and will very soon find an accomplice in Judas. We would expect the disciples to honor Jesus, but they seem clueless about what is really going on. So clueless are they that they actually object to this woman’s act of devotion on the grounds that it was too extravagant. Jesus is not worth such a costly display of affection.

Only Jesus knows what is really going on here. Only Jesus fully understood that He was going to die, something He had previously told His disciples explicitly, which they either could not or would not understand. It made perfect sense to honor Jesus while He was still there with them. They should not have taken His physical presence for granted because He would not be with them much longer. So there was more meaning in this act of devotion than even the woman herself understood. Only Jesus knew what it really meant. The Jews often used perfumes to prepare a body for burial, but only after the person was already dead. Jesus was not dead yet, but this woman’s act was sort of like a silent prophecy foretelling Jesus’ death. It is interesting that it was the women disciples who were then determined to honor Jesus, even when His body was in the sealed tomb, by anointing Him again. But their plans were interrupted unexpectedly by the resurrection! These female disciples are held up in the Gospels as examples of love and devotion to Jesus. They continued to follow Him even into the darkness of the Cross and the Tomb. What is discipleship if not love and devotion like this?

In our text, the Gospel writer is intentionally making a contrast between the woman’s beautiful, loving devotion to Jesus and the ugliness of the religious leaders, not to mention the insensitivity of the disciples. In John’s version of this account it was Judas who voiced the objection to this woman’s act, not because he cared about the poor, but because he wanted to embezzle the money. Judas was devoted to Judas.

The woman who remains anonymous in Matthew is identified in John as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. This was the Mary who was described by Luke as sitting devotedly at Jesus’ feet listening to His teaching while her sister Martha fretted over the preparations. Mary was devoted to Jesus even though it seemed to get her in trouble! But Mary is the only one getting it right. Jesus is more important than anything else. This woman only cared about Jesus and what He thought of her.

She brought something precious and costly and she broke the vessel and poured out her gift, keeping nothing for herself. This act of devotion is a rebuke perhaps to us who may have lost our first love, like that Church in Revelation. This woman is a reminder that being a disciple of Jesus means having the singular kind of love and devotion that holds nothing back but pours itself out, in spite of what other people might say or do to oppose it.

Does it surprise you that this woman had her critics? How could anyone oppose such an act of love? Perhaps even more surprising is that her critics were the other disciples, who all probably chimed in with Judas. Anyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus will soon discover that there are forces of opposition.

First, we must look inside ourselves. There is a natural self-centeredness that gets in the way of true devotion to Jesus. Don’t make the mistake of blaming something or someone else for your shortcomings! That is the oldest tendency in human nature, going all the way back to Eden. “It was the woman you gave me.” And the classic line “the Devil made me do it.”

We don’t like to admit that there are some things we do just for ourselves, because we want something really bad, and we aren’t thinking about anything or anyone else at that moment. We don’t like to admit that there is a little Judas in all of us, waiting to get out and express himself. That is what the New Testament calls the Flesh, which is that thing that we must crucify if we are to follow Jesus. There are no exceptions! Everyone must take up his or her cross, dying to self, in order to follow Jesus. This must be done first, at the beginning of our spiritual lives, or no further progress will ever be made.

Something else that can severely hinder our pure devotion to Christ is our lack of understanding. If we don’t really understand who Jesus is and what He came to do then we can never really enter fully into the Christian life. Jesus is not trying to hide the truth or fool us. Our spiritual obtuseness is not due to a lack of information or revelation. The dullness of the disciples was not due to a lack of clarity from Jesus, who had told them plainly on several occasions that He would be crucified when they got to Jerusalem. But the very idea of the Christ suffering and dying simply did not fit into their preconceived framework about the Kingdom of God. How could the Kingdom come if Jesus were to actually die? Perhaps He was speaking metaphorically, as He often did? We often think that God should conform to our own plans, ideas, and expectations. But when God breaks out of our little box we have put Him in, we become confused. What is God up to? It is crucial that we learn that following Jesus does not mean that He conforms to us, but that we must conform to Him and His agenda. When we do decide to actually follow Him, instead of trying to convince Him to follow us, we find that things begin to get clear.

Another powerful source of opposition to following Jesus is our desire to please others and win their approval. I am not a big fan of secular psychology. But even psychologists can see that our desire for approval drives much of what we do in life. And this tendency can be destructive, causing us to make the wrong choices for the wrong reasons. Secular counselors tell us we should just please ourselves instead of pleasing others, but that is not at all the mission of a disciple of Jesus. A disciple lives to please the Lord, not himself or herself.

But if we become overly concerned with what other people think about us, this concern will eventually collide with what Jesus wants. Your loyalty and devotion to Christ will eventually be tested by your desire to please others. And this test will determine the strength of your faith in Christ just as the weight of traffic will test the design of a suspension bridge. What do you really want? Do you want the praise of God or the approval of your peers? You won’t be able to have the best of both worlds, you will eventually have to make a choice.

Surprisingly, you won’t even be able to always win the praise of other Christians, not to mention the pagan world. It is the unbelieving world that will constantly be telling us that we are wasting our time following Jesus. “Why waste your life being religious instead of just enjoying life? Why don’t you ever do something just for yourself?” One of the big critiques of Christianity these days is that you can’t be a Christian and enjoy life. You can’t have any fun as a Christian because there are all those rules. How can you be happy if you have restrictions? You can only be happy if you say “yes” to all of life’s experiences. And remember that life is so short! So “carpe diem!” The world firmly believes that you only go around once, this life is all there is, so don’t waste your life serving some silent and ungrateful deity.

So there is perhaps still a lingering fear in our hearts that the Lord will not appreciate our devotion but will ignore us. Nothing is worse than pouring yourself out in a relationship with a partner who couldn’t care less and never reciprocates. Does the Lord even care about the things we do for Him? What has Jesus done for all the poor souls who have given their lives, perhaps even in literal martyrdom, while the world just sits around drinking pink champagne and laughing at these Christian fools? Maybe you have to be a fool to follow Jesus.

What this woman did to honor Jesus might look foolish, but Jesus did not think so. In the final analysis it is what Jesus thinks about us that really counts, not the opinions of our peers. The Lord highly valued the devotion of this woman, who was even willing to expose herself to abuse and criticism in showing that devotion. She cared more about the Lord than about the opinions of everyone else in that room. The rest of the people in that room did not value Jesus like that woman. Instead of congratulating her and following her example, they rebuked her. What people tend to value is what they think will make them look and feel good. I have my doubts about the sincerity of the disciple’s desire to help the poor. We know Judas didn’t mean it! It is very easy to say what we think people want to hear without caring one iota about the real issue. People do this in groups all the time. When speaking about teens we call it peer pressure. But adults experience the same thing.

There is nothing wrong with helping the poor, but this was the wrong time. When Jesus is in the room the thing to do is honor Him. What is more important than Jesus? Let’s get our priorities straight! No amount of good works or religiosity can replace a pure devotion to Jesus. It is possible to do good works and to even be religious without really being devoted to Jesus or doing what you do for Him. These people might impress other people, but the Lord will not be impressed.

What really impresses Jesus is sincerity or honesty. The Lord will not accept pretense or hypocrisy. In fact, there is probably nothing the Lord hates more than a religious actor putting on a performance for all to see. Jesus once watched the people putting their offerings in the Temple treasuries. There were many who put in large amounts with much fanfare. Then a woman, who was also a widow, put in two small pennies, worth almost nothing, yet all she had to live on. Like the woman who anointed Jesus, that woman gave everything she had, holding nothing back. The woman in our text gave a costly gift, worth much more than the widow’s coins. But that is not the point.

The gift was received in both cases because of the devoted hearts of the givers, not the actual value or size of the gifts. The Lord is concerned about our hearts, not just the offering we bring. Even the right offering is wrong if offered to God in pretense. Cain’s offering is always rejected because Cain is rejected. And even the plowing of the wicked is sin. Whatever is not done in faith is sinful. God does not accept bribes and payoffs. And if we want the praise of men, we can have that, but nothing more from the Lord.

The person the Lord honors is the person who seeks only the Lord’s approval. The approval of other people can easily become an idol – a replacement for the approval of the living God. We seek the approval of others because we want instant gratification. The people we seek to please we can see right there in front of us. But how do we get the approval we crave from a God we can’t see? The woman in this account had an opportunity we don’t have. She had Jesus right there in front of her! We like to think that if we had been there we would have done what she did, or something like it.

But would we have had her faith? She still had to exercise faith in Jesus, even though He was physically present. She had to believe the words of Jesus just like we do today. We must live by faith, even when that means waiting for our devotion to be rewarded. The true reward of faith will never be given in this world. Can you wait on the Lord? The approval of the Lord, and hearing those glorious words “well done, good and faithful servant,” will come at the End, on that great Day of Judgment, and not before. But if the Lord’s approval is what we want, then it is worth waiting for, even at the expense of this present world and its pleasures.

Perhaps the idea of standing before the Lord on the Day of Judgment is intimidating. How could anyone hope for His approval? Don’t we rather fear His scrutiny? Won’t He manage to find some fault in us, something that displeases Him? We have all known someone who could not be pleased, but was always finding fault. This might have even been someone close to us, someone from whom we desired nothing more than approval, but from whom we only got rejection. Many people view God like that. God is impossible to please and will always find something in us to condemn. But Jesus as not harsh and critical of this woman. He did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. God is not looking for a reason to condemn us. We know that He could find reason if He wanted to! But your judge is also your redeemer. I am not saying that Jesus is soft on sin. But He is never harsh with sinners who are turning to Him in repentance. The Prodigal Son is always received when he comes home, without any fault-finding or punishment. It is grace that justifies, not Law.

And that’s why grace is the most beautiful thing in the world. Not only is God’s grace beautiful, it makes us beautiful too. Grace is much more than just getting sins forgiven. Grace has power to transform the structure of our hearts. What this woman did for Jesus was beautiful because knowing the grace of Jesus had made her beautiful. This woman’s beauty is a stark contrast to the ugliness of the religious leaders and Judas.
Selfishness makes people ugly.

A medieval Italian artist made a painting of the arrest of Jesus in the Garden. Judas is leading the mob through the darkness to give that fateful kiss. The artist paints Judas with a dark and deformed face, almost animal-like, while the face of Jesus is beautiful and surrounded by light. The ugliness of Judas is contrasted visually with the beauty of Christ and His sacrificial love. Sacrificial love is beautiful. A self-centered life is ugly and it makes us uglier and uglier. Each day we have the ability to form beauty or ugliness.

In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tells about a young man who has his portrait painted. Dorian Gray is a handsome, vain man and his portrait captures the essence of his character in a surprising way. As Dorian begins to live an increasingly reckless, selfish, and wicked life, the portrait begins to change, accurately reflecting and capturing the essence of the man’s character. While Dorian outwardly appears the same, his portrait deteriorates, like his character, until the image is hideous and monstrous.

Imagine looking at a picture of yourself so that the reflection was that of the condition, the true condition, of your own soul! Would that be horrifying? C.S. Lewis said that the final and absolute horror is being horrified at one’s own self.

The beauty of this woman in our text is actually a reflection of the beauty of Christ Himself. Just as this woman poured out her precious perfume on the body of Jesus, the blood that was in that body would be poured out unto death. Under the Law of Moses there were certain offerings that were to be poured out upon the altar of sacrifice. The offering being poured out is given completely to God. It only makes sense to pour out our lives for the One who poured out His life for us. We live for Him because He died for us. This woman’s act of breaking and then pouring out her precious gift calls us to do the same with our very lives, holding nothing back from the Lord. Nothing can be raised unless it dies first. This woman anointed Jesus’ body for death and burial. We must be prepared to die with Christ, our old life of sin buried and forsaken, so that we can then share in the power of His resurrection.

We may look like fools now, pouring ourselves out for Jesus, while the world and its pleasures offer instant satisfaction. Just remember that the World passes away, along with its lusts. Only what is done for Christ will last. Jesus said that what that woman did would be told and remembered. What she did for Jesus would live forever because Jesus lives forever. A life poured out for Jesus is never wasted.

But I am afraid there are people who think this kind of devotion to Jesus is only for the spiritually elite, or perhaps someone who has been dramatically saved from an immoral life. Normal Christians, regular Church members, are exempt from such extreme acts of devotion. Pastors and missionaries pour out their lives for Jesus, but is every Christian expected to do so? So most Christians are pretty casual about their faith in Jesus. We don’t want to go overboard, to become religious fanatics. After all, what would people think of us?

The Carnal Corruption of the Church (1 Corinthians 3.1-4)

The Church at Corinth was probably the most troubled of the congregations started by the Apostle Paul. After having such a good start by the most significant Apostle of the Lord, you would think that this Church should have been a stellar example of what the Church ought to be. But Corinth was a mess. Corinth is the example in the New Testament of a corrupt Church. The Bible is filled with bad examples as well as good ones so that we can learn not only what we should do but what we should also avoid. Every Church should make it their goal to avoid becoming like Corinth.

We can see an inventory of Corinth’s internal issues and problems just by reading through Paul’s first letter to this Church. The main issue seems to be that the Church was deeply divided. This issues comes up more than once and it also comes up first, so I am concluding that this was perhaps the most serious issue Paul wants to address. They had neglected the Gospel and accepted worldly wisdom, which was probably the source of all their problems. They were carnal and unspiritual, yet also proud. In this condition they were unable to grasp spiritual truth and had therefore remained infantile in their understanding. Sexual sin had broken out in the Church and they also seemed ignorant about the Lord’s will for marriage. They were taking each other to court and disputing with each other over trivial matters in front of unbelievers. Some of them had questions about idolatry and apparently did not know that there was only one God. Their divisions were especially apparent when they attempted to have the Lord’s Supper. They were trying to exercise spiritual gifts, but their assemblies were chaotic and probably competitive. And some of them did not believe in the resurrection of the body.

So it is important to notice when you read this epistle that Paul is writing to correct all of these issues. Paul is not writing to give advanced, doctrinal instruction to stable believers. He is writing to correct carnal, immature people. Unfortunately, what happened at Corinth can easily happen in any Church. It is always possible for the Flesh to creep into any Church and Corinth was certainly not the only Church to experience an outbreak of carnality. What corrupted the Church at Corinth is still with us today in spite of all of our cultural differences and technological advancements. Human nature has not changed.

When Paul uses the term “flesh” or “carnal” he is really talking about human nature. This is something that does not disappear from Christian people and remains a liability until we are separated from our bodies and this world in death. The Flesh is always a weakness, a liability, and a constant struggle for Christians. It is something that we must all continually fight to keep in subjection or it will begin again to dominate our individual lives and even our Church fellowship, as was the case in Corinth.

If the Flesh is dominating the Church this condition is always inappropriate and unacceptable. The manifestation of the Flesh must be recognized, clearly identified, and corrected immediately. It might even mean that certain members of the Church must be disciplined so that they repent, which is a course of action Paul outlines for the Church at Corinth. Those who are spiritual must recognize and identify the intrusion of the Flesh. Those who are in the Flesh must be humbled and accept correction. But what we must understand is that Paul is in no way giving the Church a license to be carnal or to tolerate the Flesh in any way. Something must be done and something can be done so that the Flesh does not continue to dominate the Church.

While there are certainly individual applications here we are primarily speaking of the Body. Each individual member adds something to the Body as a whole and we must take care to add something beneficial and not harmful to the Body of Christ. All Christians are members of the Body and we do not have the option of separating ourselves from the rest of the Body. So when there is trouble in the Body, everyone is potentially harmed by it and that makes this a serious matter.

Keeping the Flesh in check is a challenge for every believer and for every Church. All Church problems can be traced back to an outbreak of Flesh. I believe that Paul was summarizing all of the problems in the Church at Corinth when he said “for you are still of the flesh.” It is usually a mistake to try to address all of the symptoms of the Flesh without tracing these things back to the source. You cannot treat the symptoms only or you may make everything worse by ignoring the source of the problem.

When you go to the doctor you want him to find and treat the source of your illness or injury, you don’t simply want him to medicate you into a half-conscious state and then send you home declaring you to be healed. Yet this is exactly what many religious professionals do with the problems in the Church. Keeping with this medical metaphor, we must first recognize that we have an illness before we will seek healing. One of the most disturbing aspects of the Flesh is that many people seem to be unable or unwilling to come to terms with it and recognize what it is.

I have noticed that people will often put off seeking medical treatment because they do not want to face the reality of a serious illness. We are the same way with our spiritual sickness – actually even more so.

We must come to terms with the fact that Flesh is unacceptable to God. There is NOTHING good in our Flesh and God is not in any way tolerant of it. The Flesh profits nothing! But most people continue to believe that God will accept or tolerate Flesh because He is so loving and gracious. Doesn’t God forgive sins? So He will forgive us for being in the Flesh, right?

The modern Church has come to tolerate the Flesh and justify its continued expression and dominance. This means that many Church people are basically like everyone else in the world. To keep the Church institution together they try to mitigate the symptoms of the Flesh – much like the United Nations attempts to do with the nations of the world so they will not destroy each other. So some semblance of peace is kept. But the Flesh remains the same. And so the Churches today are filled with people who are in the Flesh but who have simply added religion to a life they deem is already acceptable to God.

And if the Flesh does break out in the Church, as in Corinth, people today will simply say, “well we are only human after all.” But that state of being “only human” is the fatal flaw. Those who are only human aren’t acceptable to God. We must be born again or we cannot enter the Kingdom.

A Church that is dominated by the Flesh and by people in the Flesh is a complete misrepresentation of what God is doing in salvation.

The Flesh is human nature. Human nature is corrupted because of sin. Flesh can be traced back to Adam and to Adam’s sin. We know that everything that can be traced back to Adam has been rejected by God and cannot enter into the Kingdom. Anyone who does not understand this has missed what is perhaps the central teaching of the Bible regarding sin and salvation.

If what is connected to Adam is somehow acceptable to God, then there is no need for salvation at all and the whole Biblical record falls to the ground and becomes meaningless.

From what is Jesus saving us? That is the crucial question. If God loves us just as we are then why did Jesus have to come into the world? I believe that I am touching on one of the biggest false doctrines that is being taught everywhere in the Church today. The false Gospel that is being preached is that you are basically acceptable to God as you are and that Jesus coming into the world and dying was simply to show you or to prove to you that God really does love you so very much. All that remains is for people to simply accept the fact that God loves them.

In this model of salvation there is really no change required in us at all. If there is anything objectionable in us, then God simply forgives and wipes the slate clean again. Of course an infinitely loving God would be willing to do that. Perhaps we underestimate what a radical departure this is from the teaching of the Bible about human nature, the nature of God, and the nature of salvation. Those who believe and propagate this teaching have an unbiblical view of humanity, of God, and of salvation. And those three doctrines are the very essence of the message of the Bible. Get those things wrong and you are completely out in left field!

C.S. Lewis said that theology is like a roadmap to get us to the right destination. If you have the wrong map or no map at all you will get lost. No one reads a map for its own sake. No one should study theology or teach doctrine just to be intellectual or to be right. The whole point is to get to the right destination. A person who does not understand the basics of the nature of man, the nature of God, and the purpose of salvation through Christ is off the edges of the map and wondering in the wilderness!

Jesus did not come into the world to prove that we were already acceptable to God. Jesus came to make a way for us to BE acceptable to God because in our natural state in the Flesh we were not acceptable. Jesus came to be the second Adam – the progenitor of a race of people who are acceptable to God. I remember Brother Seth Wilson saying that in order to become Christians we must first resign from the human race!

Christians are people no longer dominated by the Flesh. This does not mean that Christians can’t have relapses. But to make excuses for the continued expression of the Flesh and to justify its dominion over our lives and our Church is to oppose everything God is doing in salvation.

Paul’s letter to Corinth is an inspired assessment of that particular congregation. We understand that Scripture is never just the thoughts and opinions of a man. This Divine assessment of the Corinthian Church is coming through the Apostle Paul, but what we are really reading in this epistle is the Divine perspective. Paul was not pleased with Corinth because the Lord was not pleased with Corinth. We must become familiar with the fact that God can be displeased even with His own people, or at least with those who claim to be His people.

Most of the Old Testament Scriptures chronicle God’s displeasure with the people of Israel. Simply being the descendants of Abraham in no way shielded the nation of Israel from Divine scrutiny and wrath. Simply wearing the name of Christ or calling ourselves a Church in no way provides us with an automatic shield from the watchful eyes of the Lord. In fact, in identifying ourselves with the Lord we are actually inviting His scrutiny. A relationship with the living God is never something to be taken casually.

God is holy. This was perhaps the most important theological revelation of the Old Covenant dispensation. The Law was nothing more than an extended lesson about the holiness of God. But the lesson was not just theoretical or philosophical. There was a practical concern. God’s desire was to dwell among His people. But how can a holy God dwell among unholy people? This was the central problem or question addressed under the Law. If God is going to dwell with His people that means God’s people must be holy. God’s people must be like God. God will not compromise His holiness and dwell in the midst of unholy people. If the people are not holy, then God’s presence will depart. If the people are not like God then the holiness of God will break out against them – which is what is called wrath.

There came a certain point in the history of Israel where the presence of God departed from the Temple – something the people had thought could never happen. Jeremiah the prophet warned the people not to think that having the Temple there in Jerusalem would shield them from God’s wrath. “Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD” (Jeremiah 7:1-4). Later it was the prophet Ezekiel who actually saw a vision of the glory of the Lord departing from the Temple (See Ezekiel 10). Unfortunately, religious people tend to think that their religious exercises will protect them from the wrath of God and guarantee His blessing and presence.

God is not interested only in religious ceremony but in spiritual worshipers (See John 4.21-24). God’s people must be in harmony with His nature. God is spirit. God’s people must worship God spiritually. God does not receive carnal religion. Worship that is not spiritual and that is offered by carnal people is just mechanical and amounts to nothing at all! Flesh is willing to be religious. But carnal religion only furthers our alienation from God.

God does not change. He will not compromise His nature in order to accommodate us and our Flesh. We must change in order to be in agreement with Him and His holiness. Salvation is all about God making us fit for His presence, not about God somehow learning to tolerate our Flesh. There is no change in God now that we live in New Testament times. God’s intolerance for the Flesh is just as strong as it was. That’s why this outbreak of Flesh in the Church at Corinth was so serious.

The Church is the Temple of God. This Temple has to be holy just as the Tabernacle and then the Temple had to be holy for God’s presence to dwell there. If the Church is not holy God’s presence cannot dwell there and the Church will be subject to the wrath of God just like Israel.

This principle is vividly illustrated for us in the letters to the seven Churches of Asia in the book of Revelation. The Lord Jesus Himself addressed those congregations. Most of them had to be rebuked and the Lord promised them that He would fight against them and even take away their lamp stand – or shut down their church – unless they repented. The modern Church has failed to take these warnings seriously, just as Israel failed to listen to the prophets God sent them to warn them about His wrath. There persists a sense of false security among religious people. They just don’t believe that God will be displeased with them. They believe that their religion covers their carnality.

But we know that those who are in the Flesh, even the religious, cannot please God (Romans 8.8). There seems to be this widespread belief that because of Jesus God can now tolerate things He could not previously tolerate. In the Old Testament God was always getting angry. But now that Jesus has come God is only loving and merciful, which most people interpret as tolerant.

But this reasoning is deeply flawed. God does not change. And if Jesus has revealed even more to us about the nature of God then that means there is even less of an excuse for our carnality! In other words, instead of concluding that God is now more tolerant of the Flesh than He was before Jesus came, we should reason that He would be even less tolerant and more sensitive to the expression of the Flesh among His people because so much more has been given to us than to Israel. “To whom much is given, much will be required.” To be a carnal Church we must sin against a lot of light!

The Corinthians were being carnal and the apostle Paul rebukes them for it. This has to mean that they did not have to be carnal. They were acting out of character. Yet, this letter to the Corinthians is used today to justify carnality in the Church. We have heard about people who are called “carnal Christians” and the Church has recently even been described as a “beautiful mess.” The implication is that these contradictions are somehow acceptable, perhaps even normal. We might as well talk about a righteous sin or a good demon! If the people claiming to be Christians are carnal, and no different from anyone else in the world, then how do we even know who the real Christians are? Is there even any difference between a Christian and a non-Christian? If not, then what is salvation good for? If Christians can be carnal with impunity then the grace of God is a license to sin. So let us sin so that grace may increase! This carnal Christianity is built on a cheap and powerless grace that is a reproach to the true grace of God.

But Paul said that the Corinthians were behaving in a human way. Well, what’s wrong with that? Were the Corinthians not human? Were they members of an alien race? Actually, yes! In Christ we become more than human. This is because in Christ we are made new creatures who are born of the Spirit of God. So while normal people can say “well, we are only human,” a Christian cannot say that.

What we must remember, however, is that the human nature is not obliterated when we are born again. This is why it is still possible for Christians to sin and to lapse back into the Flesh, which is exactly what happened at Corinth and still happens in the Church today. But the point Paul is making is that this does not have to happen and it should not happen.

Paul gives them no justification for this condition. We should never justify our carnality. The Flesh must be ruthlessly crucified over and over again. An old Puritan theologian named John Owens said “be killing sin or it will be killing you.” The good news is that believers actually have the ability to do this!

It is not done by law, disciple, or willpower, but through the power of the indwelling Spirit. The Holy Spirit is stronger than the Flesh. If we live under the control of the Holy Spirit then we will not be dominated by the Flesh. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). This is a promise! You cannot be in the Flesh if you are in the Spirit – these two principles are opposed to one another.

Now if you find that you are operating in the Flesh the thing to do is to be honest about this and confess your sins. We need honest confession, not excuses, for the expression of the Flesh.

So if a Christian is operating in the Flesh it is because he or she is not walking in the Spirit. We need to acknowledge this fact instead of running to the counselor or a recovery program. No Christian should have a defeatist attitude toward the Flesh and give up or give in to the Flesh. To just allow the Flesh to dominate is to deny the work of the Holy Spirit, which is really quenching or even grieving the Holy Spirit.

If the key to keeping the Flesh in check is walking according to the Holy Spirit, or being under the control of the Spirit, then we must conclude that sin cannot be dislodged from our lives or from the Church by a principle of law, discipline, or willpower. This is why all man-made recovery programs can never really work. At best a recovery program can only deal with the symptoms. Most Churches attempt to deal with the expression of the Flesh through either a recovery program with a series of steps or disciplines or the Church may employ a principle of law.

A principle of law seems more Biblical because the commandments are there in Scripture. If we threaten people with the wrath of the Almighty and hold them over the fires of Hell then this will surely curtail the expression of the Flesh, right? The fear of the Lord IS the beginning of wisdom and we should certainly cultivate an awareness of God. But we should also remember that Israel made a golden calf at the very foot of Mount Sinai! Flesh will find a way to break through even when the commandments have thundered forth from the mountain of God. Please understand that I am not saying that the Law of God should be ignored. The Flesh needs to hear the commandments. But even after the Flesh has heard the commandments it will still be the Flesh. Flesh cannot be changed, even by a commandment. “The Flesh gives birth to Flesh.” Our escape from the dominance of the Flesh cannot come through discipline that we impose on ourselves or even through the knowledge of a Divine law.

The Law will actually stir up the Flesh and its desires – a principle illustrated by John Bunyan with a woman sweeping a dirty room and filling the air with dust. What is needed to really clean the room, as Bunyan continues his wonderful metaphor, is to apply the water of grace. To put this principle in Scriptural terms, it is grace that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (Titus 2.11-14).

Grace must be applied to the Flesh. The only thing that can dislodge the Flesh is a more powerful principle. Perhaps the term principle is too impersonal. What we need to dislodge the dominance of the Flesh is a more powerful affection or desire. Only the grace of Christ in the Gospel can dislodge our love of self, sin, and the World.

This is why a false Gospel always leads in some way to the expression or justification of the Flesh. The Corinthians were carnal and spiritual infants because they had neglected the Gospel and listened to the World’s wisdom. If the Gospel is not being preached in the Church, we can be sure that the World’s wisdom will be preached. The World is constantly preaching at the Church. Paul had to preach the Gospel all over again to the Corinthians. Their carnality had made them spiritual infants. You cannot grow if you are in the Flesh.

Christians never outgrow the Gospel. The Gospel is actually the environment or the soil in which we grow into Christlikeness. If the Gospel is neglected and not preached then carnality and immaturity will dominate. But do not mistake the mortification of the Flesh for spiritual growth itself. Crucifying the Flesh is not what makes you a spiritual giant. Overthrowing the dominion of the Flesh just brings you back to zero and puts you in the race – the prize being the eternal glory of being like Jesus. So if we have kept the Flesh in check we should not boast in that. Now the real work of being conformed to the image of Christ can begin!

From Slavery to Worship (Exodus 19.1-6)

Israel went from slavery into a covenant with God. The people had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years! This generation of people had only known slavery and had never been free. It would be a very ambitious goal of making a group of people who had only known slavery into a nation. But Israel was not going to be just any nation. They were to be a nation that belonged to God.

It is important to understand that while God had already made a covenant with Abraham – a promise that was repeated to Isaac and Jacob – God made another covenant with the people of Israel after bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. It is very important to see this distinction between the covenant with Abraham, which was really a Divine promise, and the covenant God then made with the people after the Exodus from Egypt. The covenant of Law made through Moses was not like the promise God has previously made with Abraham, though both covenants were part of the Divine purpose. Israel was going to enter a covenant based on Law. The covenant God made with Abraham was based on a promise.

Like Israel we were once in slavery and we have been set free to be in covenant with God. However, the covenant we have entered into is not the covenant God made with Israel through Moses. We are the children of the Promise. What God promised Abraham has been fulfilled in Christ. Israel came out of slavery to enter a covenant of law. We have come out of slavery to sin to be sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

They were set free from slavery to worship and serve God. God made this very clear to Israel. Israel was delivered from Egypt by God to be used by God for His own purposes. Israel was not set free from Egypt to do whatever they wanted to do. Israel’s election was for Divine service, which included great responsibility.

Israel was free from slavery, but this freedom was not for Israel to chart their own course in the world. God has a specific purpose and work for the nation of Israel and they had no right to do anything else since they belonged to God. Israel belonged to God because it was God who had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. God had purchased Israel for Himself. Israel already belonged to God. But God had purchased Israel again when He brought them out of Egypt. God’s claim on Israel was based on redemption.

Suppose there was a person in great, mortal danger who was rescued by someone else’s intervention. In some way the person who had been rescued would owe his or her life to the one who provided their deliverance. How could you repay someone who had actually saved your life? You would probably be willing to do anything for them if they asked!

In the same way we have been redeemed, or purchased by God, through the blood of Christ. Jesus gave His life to save our lives. And this means that Jesus now has a claim on our lives, in an even deeper sense than God had a claim on the people of Israel after bringing them out of Egypt. Jesus did not save us so we could go on our way and live our own lives as we desire. Redemption means that we now belong to the Redeemer to do His will and live for Him.

They built the Tabernacle so that God could dwell with them. A large portion of the book of Exodus contains the detailed plans for this portable Tent of Meeting. It was called the Tent of Meeting because that is where God would meet with the people. God’s presence would be localized there in the Tabernacle. This Tent of Meeting would literally be the center of the Israelite community as they were even commanded to arrange their own camp around the Tabernacle. Moses was told repeatedly to make the Tabernacle exactly like the pattern he was given. We now know that this Tabernacle was a kind of earthly copy of heaven itself. The Tabernacle was arranged to show what it would take to come into the presence of God, which was no small matter!

The whole Tabernacle was an illustration of the holiness of God and all of the elaborate preparations that had to be made if a holy God was to dwell with the people. In the prologue to his Gospel, the Apostle John writes “the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.” The original word “dwelt” literally means “to pitch a tent” and this was a direct reference to the Tabernacle. In other words, just as the glory of God once dwelt in the Tabernacle, the glory of God dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the real Tabernacle – the place where God came to dwell with men – of which the Tabernacle built by Moses was merely a foreshadowing. God’s purpose has always been to make a people for Himself with whom He can dwell. So in the New Creation it is said “now the dwelling of God is with men.”

The whole point of the Tabernacle was the Most Holy Place where the Mercy Seat was located. The Tabernacle was really an object lesson about approaching the presence of God. It was not a simple or easy thing to come into the presence of God. Sin has caused alienation between God and men and something must be done about sin before God can receive men. God really cannot receive us as we are and the Tabernacle illustrates this principle.

The first object lesson was the basin for washing. In order to come into the presence of God you must first be washed and cleansed.

The second object lesson was the altar of sacrifice. In order for us to come into the presence of God, blood had to first be shed to atone, or cover, our sins.

We should remember that the people could not all come into the Tabernacle. There was a special class of people who represented the people of Israel before God. The priests from the tribe of Levi were to care for the Tabernacle and all of its services. This illustrates for us our need for a mediator before God. Someone must go in before us to represent us in the presence of God. In the Most Holy Place was the Ark of the Covenant over which there was the Mercy Seat, which represented the very Throne of God in heaven. Access to the presence of God was restricted as long as that Tabernacle stood.

The entire message of the Tabernacle was the fact that God and men were separated by sin. The priests and all of the sacrifices of the Tabernacle were just reminders of the people’s sin in the presence of a holy God. But God was making a way for His presence to be there and the people to not be consumed. The full remedy for sin was not provided in the Tabernacle.

There was a veil that separated the people from the presence of God. Only the High Priest, and only once per year of the Day of Atonement, could enter behind the veil into the Most Holy Place. And the High Priest had to take blood for the sins of the people, as well as for his own sin. This veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was symbolic of the separation between God and the people as long as the Tabernacle was standing.

This veil continued to separate men from the presence of God until the day Jesus died. We are told in the Gospels that when Jesus breathed His last, the veil in the Temple was ripped in two from the top to the bottom. When Christ had offered Himself for sin there was no longer any need for this veil to separate God from men. The way into the very presence of God has at last been opened and we can enter in to the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus!

And so the writer of Hebrews tells us to draw near to God because this is our right in Christ Jesus.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Press On! (Philippians 3.12-16)

In our present state we are not yet perfected. There is a constant need for continuing in growth. There is a need to “press” or to make an effort to move forward, yet our Flesh tends to resist this – preferring to settle down or live in the past with old ways of thinking and living. Even after we are in Christ there are old patterns of thinking and living that must change. Our “Great Commission” is to make everything in our lives serve Christ.

This is also called the process of sanctification and it is depicted in the Law in Israel’s conquest of Canaan. Even though the Promised Land belonged to them, the Israelites still had to go to war and drive out the Canaanites – a work they never completed. Because they did not complete this work the people of the land became thorns in the side of the people of Israel and snares for their feet. In the same way the believer in Christ must go to war and drive out the old ways of thinking and living. If we refuse to do this then the old life will continue to be a thorn in our side and will lead us to disobey and displease the Lord. Continuing to grow, to move forward and take all of our inheritance in Christ, is not an optional activity for the child of God.

There is a great need for focus toward a singular goal. There is great weakness in being scattered and fragmented. Most people are dominated by the things of this world and never rise higher in their thoughts, goals, or affections.

Paul is an example to us of what is possible for a person who is completely sold out. There is no special class of Christian who is completely devoted while everyone else can remain half-hearted. Paul is describing a mature view of the Christian life.

In Christ there is a constant renewal and progression.  There is always something new to see and to do. We do not have to stay where we are or be what we were.  We can change. Life in Christ is dynamic and living in contrast to the dead routine of religion. Life in Christ is salvation from the hopelessness of a life in this world that is cursed and frustrating. What we gain in Christ is much better than what we leave behind.

I. The Goal of the Christian Life

The key phrase in our text is to “press on” or “straining forward.” This denotes some kind of passionate and strenuous effort being exerted. Paul makes it very clear here that there is something up ahead toward which he is pressing and straining so that he might reach it.

The Apostle Paul was perhaps the greatest Christian to ever live. We could make a very good case that Paul did more and saw more than any other Christian, including all of the other Apostles of the Lord. In light of this fact, it may seem strange for a man like Paul to talk as if there was something he has not yet attained.

So Paul, in spite of everything that he had done and everything that he had seen, still had to keep pressing on and straining toward a goal that he had not yet realized. It is logical to conclude from Paul’s own words that no matter what we might see or do there is still something up ahead that we have not obtained and for which we are to be constantly pressing and straining to reach.

And we know that if a Christian as great as the Apostle Paul had this attitude, then the rest of us ought to think the same way. If there was still more for Paul to obtain then there is certainly more for us to be pressing and straining forward to attain.

Paul becomes a model for all of us to imitate. Not that we will have the same role or place in the Body of Christ. We are not apostles. But this is not about Paul’s Apostolic ministry here. This is about something Paul was aggressively pursuing that is common to all believers in Christ.

1. The Glory of the Resurrection Body

What is it that Paul had not already attained? The goal toward which Paul is pressing and straining is the glory of the resurrection. Christ has been raised from the dead, and His resurrection is a preview of what is to come in the future. Jesus is the first man to rise from the dead, never to die again. But Jesus is not the last man to be resurrected. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees a resurrection for all the dead – some of whom will enter into eternal joy, while others will enter into eternal condemnation (See John 5.25-29).

Paul’s ultimate goal is to be like Jesus in every way – including experiencing this same resurrection and having a glorified body that is like the Lord’s. For Paul this resurrection was the ultimate goal of his faith in Christ. This is what made Paul do everything that he did. You might say that it was the hope of the resurrection that motivated Paul and kept him going, even in the midst of suffering. Paul’s mission, which He received directly from the Lord, was to preach that Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel (See 2 Tim. 1.10)!

The hope of the believer is the resurrection and the redemption of the body, which will complete our conformity to the image of Christ (See Rom 8.23-25; 28-31). God’s purpose is to make us like His Son. The only part of us that is not yet redeemed is the body.

God must redeem our bodies because He is also going to redeem all of creation and create a new heavens and earth (See Rev. 21.1, 5).

2. A Glory Worth Pursuing

Paul tells us what he is looking forward to and also what he had left behind. Paul let go of everything in his former life as a Pharisee in order to gain Christ. In the same way Christians cannot take confidence in the Flesh. Paul had every reason, from a human point of view, to have confidence in his Jewish heritage and his strict observance of the Law.

But when Paul met Jesus these things no longer had the value they once held in Paul’s mind. Paul did not have an immoral past. Paul was a religious zealot who thought it was even necessary to persecute Christians. But Paul had to face the fact that he was wrong and that all of his religiosity was worthless when compared to the righteousness of Christ. So Paul completely divorced his former life and never looked back. Paul was pursuing a higher calling and he would not allow his past life to distract him from this new revelation in Christ.

The contrast to this way of thinking are those whose minds are only on earthly things and whose god is their appetite. The believer’s goal is something higher. Paul is warning us to look out for false teachers who glory in the Flesh and have their minds on earthly goals. In contrast, the believer in Christ is to set his or her affections on things above (See Col.  3.1-4). Believers are warned not to get caught up in earthly pursuits (See Matt. 6.19-34, 13.22, 1 Jn.  2.15-17). Paul had left behind his former life when he received a higher revelation and calling from heaven. Likewise, the believer in Christ is to forsake everything else to pursue Christ.

3. Remove the Obstacles to Growth

So in this passage Paul is telling the Philippians what motivates his life and ministry. Paul is pursuing the glory of the resurrection and to be conformed to the image of Christ. To pursue this heavenly calling Paul had forsaken everything in his former life. Paul is baring his soul to the Philippian believers.

Paul could not talk this way to all of his Churches. The carnal Corinthians were not able to receive this kind of word. Paul had to spend all of his time correcting the Corinthians, but not the Philippians. This shows us that when there is carnality and ignorance in the church, and when time must be taken to remedy these conditions, this situation makes spiritual growth and progress impossible. The Philippians were able to move forward and Paul is showing them how. The Corinthians were carnal and not able to move forward until these issues were exposed and addressed. There are some people and some churches who are not growing because they cannot grow! We should all be very concerned about those issues in our own lives and in the life of the fellowship of the church that can keep us from making further progress toward the ultimate goal of becoming like Christ.

You will notice that there is nothing like what Paul said to the Philippians said to people under the Law. Law of any kind is mostly corrective. Correction should not be confused with actual, spiritual growth. Law can prepare us for spiritual growth, but we cannot grow under a principle of Law.

This is why many people make a great mistake when studying certain parts of the Bible, such as the wisdom of Solomon. A Christian cannot grow toward Christlikeness by studying Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. The wisdom of Solomon prepares us for the wisdom of the Gospel.

Someone greater than Solomon has come! So there are things that prepare us for real spiritual growth and then there is being in a position to actually make progress in the Christian life. Preparing to grow should not be mistaken for actual growth toward Christlikeness.

II. The Beginning of a New Life

Paul’s great objective was to become like Jesus. This process of change into the image of Christ, which would culminate in the glory of the resurrection of the body, was the central preoccupation of Paul’s life and was the motivating factor for everything he did.

In saying these things Paul is not giving a summation of his apostolic role. He is not giving what is merely a private goal or something that is the goal of the spiritually elite.

1. The Lord Pursued Us

It is important that we notice that Paul did not begin this pursuit of Christ by a choice of his own. Paul had been a Pharisee. He was a persecutor of the Church until Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road. To say that Paul’s life changed at this point would be an understatement of the case. In other words, the great pursuit of Paul’s life was actually the result of Christ’s pursuit of Paul. Saul of Tarsus had been on his way to the city of Damascus to arrest Christians. But Jesus had actually arrested Saul! And so because Jesus had pursued and apprehended Paul, Paul’s new mission in life was to pursue and to apprehend Christ.

Now we are not apostles and Jesus did not appear to us as He did to Saul of Tarsus. But what was true of Paul particularly is also true of all Christians generally: we are now pursuing the One who pursued and apprehended us.

And this point comes out in all of Paul’s theology – that God is the great initiator of salvation. We did not love God, but He loved us. We were not seeking God, but God came in the person of Jesus Christ to seek and to save the lost. Unless God had intervened in our lives we would remain ignorant of Him and His will. But now that Christ has apprehended us, it becomes our goal to pursue Him.

2. The Lord Called Us

I will admit that the Apostle Paul is a special case. Jesus was going to make Saul of Tarsus the Apostle to the Gentiles. So Paul was a unique calling as an Apostle of Christ. That is why Jesus appeared to Saul on the Damascus road. But Jesus was also calling Saul of Tarsus to salvation. The call to salvation came first, and then the call for Saul to serve as an Apostle. In several places in his epistles Paul mentions his calling as an Apostle. But that is not what Paul is doing in our text in Philippians. Paul is writing here about the call to salvation, which always precedes a call to service. I am making this distinction between a call for salvation and a call for service so that we will not overlook this passage as if it were something only for someone called to be an Apostle and therefore not applicable to us. That would be a mistake.

God issues a call to those He saves. This call, which comes to us through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, is one of the links in what some have called the golden chain of salvation. Paul writes about this in Romans: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).

Notice that the initiative is the Lord’s. He began working for us even before we were born and could make our own choice. If the Lord had not made the first move we would still be in our sins.

Our affections are naturally tied to the earth and to pleasing ourselves rather than seeking God. We began seeking God only because He was seeking us. We heard His call.

3. Our Response

This call to salvation is only the beginning of a new life. When Saul of Tarsus met Jesus there was a new path for Saul to begin to follow. Saul’s days as a Pharisee were ended. The Apostle Paul’s ambition was to pursue Christ and to be like Him in every way. Part of Paul’s pursuit of Christ was his mission to preach Christ to the Gentiles. But Paul’s ministry was not the ultimate goal of his life. The ultimate goal for Paul was to be conformed to the image of Christ and to experience the glory of the resurrection. Everything else in Paul’s life, including his special calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, was subservient to this higher calling and destiny. And this was exactly what Paul wanted for the Philippians. Paul wants other believers to think like this.

The ultimate goal is to be like Christ and share in the glory of the resurrection. Everything else in your life must become integrated with this ultimate goal. This is really another perspective of our sanctification. God continues to work in those He saves to sanctify them completely and bring them to maturity in Christ. Paul is supremely confident in the work of God in the lives of believers. God can show us those areas of our lives that need attention and further growth.

This assumes that we are God-centered and pursuing Christ, that we have been severed from self-interest, worldly pleasures and competing influences. Notice that doing all of these things is only preparation for spiritual growth and maturity and are not in themselves a sign of progress in the Christian life. We should not continue to think of sanctification only in a negative sense.

On the other hand, if we don’t do certain things first we will never be able to make any progress toward the goal. Maturity is a dynamic and not a static state for the believer in Christ.

The mature believer is one who has rid himself of all other competing influences and is therefore making progress toward the goal of Christlikeness – the completion of this process culminating in the glory of the resurrection. Unfortunately, there are more and more things that can distract us from this goal. We live in a selfish, man-centered generation where God and spiritual things are not considered as being of first importance. There is very little connection between faith, spirituality, and life-change. People can claim to be religious or spiritual and yet live as if that makes no difference in their lives. And so most religious people are usually no different from the surrounding culture in which we live. Until this situation changes there can be no progress.

III. The Power to Press On

We must be given a reason to cut loose from the world around us. Our hearts will become attached to something because it is not possible for us not to have desires. We were created with certain desires. Sin twists those desires and prostitutes them with unworthy objects.

Originally we were made to desire God. An automobile is made to run on gasoline. Humanity was made to work in fellowship with God and all of our trouble can be traced to our alienation from God. As Augustine said in his Confessions: “Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are every restless until we find rest in thee.”

1. No Power in Law

But if we are told to cut our affections for certain things and those affections are not offered a new and more worthy object, then we will be most miserable. This is why most preaching against sin lacks power to actually change people. Simply preaching against sin and informing people about their need for holiness cannot actually make anyone forsake their sin or become holy. Even preaching about the horrors of Hell will only leave people in despair unless there is something else offered that can give hope. There will never be any hope and power to change unless we are told about the purpose of God and the objective of salvation.

Many people today want to change and recognize their need for change. But they can’t make it happen and they need some power. The power to change our lives is not inherent in our nature, no matter what the psychological and self-help movements believe. The Bible teaches us that humans are slaves to their own appetites and cannot rise above their natural affections. We cannot by our own efforts or a sheer act of the will change what we are by nature, anymore than a man can change the color of his own skin or a leopard the pattern of his spotted coat (Jer. 13.23).

There is still a great need for people to be convicted of sin. This is the great ministry of the Law of Moses (See Rom 3.19-20). Yet the Law of Moses offers no remedy for sin. Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin, but new life does not come by the Law.

We must preach the Law in order to bring the knowledge of sin, but after we have preached the Law we must preach something else that promises a remedy for sin. We must preach the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1.16)!

2. Beholding the Glory of Christ

The Gospel calls us to a higher life, a greater purpose, and an objective more glorious than anything this world has to offer. Solomon has already perfectly described life in this world as a vicious cycle of vanity and frustration. God cursed this world so that He could remake it!

So the Gospel is not primarily about life in this world. Even if you could gain the whole world you would eventually have to die and give it all up. Job knew the truth that we came into the world naked and we will depart in the same way! Someone once said that it is really pointless to dress a corpse in a suit with pockets! The Health and Wealth Gospel preachers are doing people much harm by telling them that God’s main objective is to bless them in this world. That is a cruel message to preach for the simple reason that life in this world is temporal. Most people fail to think about the transitory and fleeting nature of life in this world. But the Gospel offers hope for the future beyond this life and this world.

And so the Gospel also gives us a new goal in this life: your new goal in this world is to prepare for the world that is to come, which is actually the real world.

It is ironic that most people consider this world that is passing away to be the real world and the world to come, which is eternal, is just so much pie in the sky! How wrong this kind of thinking is! The world that we see can easily dominate our attention and affections because it seems to be the only real world. The New Creation has not come into view yet.

We cannot see the world to come, but we can see Jesus, who is the harbinger and firstborn of that New Creation (See Heb. 2.5-9)! The Gospel shows us the glory of Christ, which changes us as we behold Him (2 Cor.  3.18). So our greatest need is to look, to gaze steadily, at the glory of Christ.

Christ’s presence in heaven is to give us access to spiritual blessings there even now. We are raised with Him and seated there even now (Eph. 2.6).

So, believing the Gospel is much more than just the forgiveness of sins. The Gospel has an objective – the New Creation – and we must be headed toward that goal. If the Gospel has not changed our lives, the way we live, then it is doubtful that we have understood and believed the true Gospel. The Gospel will motivate us and enable us to cut loose of this present, evil world in our affections. The way to overcome sin is not through law but by seeing the glory of the New Creation that is ahead.

3. Our Hope is in the Resurrection of Christ

Our hope is based on the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ points toward the New Creation. Jesus is the only man to have been resurrected from the dead, but He is not the last man who will be so resurrected!

In our text in Philippians Paul is speaking of his personal ambition to experience that resurrection of the dead that will happen when Jesus comes again. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul speaks of this resurrection in a doctrinal rather than a personal form:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).

In other words, as Jesus is, so shall we become. This is the goal toward which Paul was pressing and it is the goal of every believer in Christ. When we see it like Paul saw it, we will also be straining toward it with every fiber of our being!

This hope of the resurrection is the reason why we were saved in the first place. We were redeemed so that we can one day have a redeemed body (See 2 Cor 5.1-5).

We are being prepared for this now as we learn to walk in the Spirit and put to death the desires and deeds of the Flesh. As we put off the domination of the desire of this earthly body, we are anticipating the glory of the new body which will be free from all of these old hindrances. We will enter into a glorious freedom to do and be all that we were created for in Christ!

There is no way to express the glory of that freedom we will experience at the resurrection, and obtaining that glory is worth any price we have to pay in this world.

Christ’s resurrection is a glimpse of what God will also do for all those in Christ. He will transform our lowly bodies and bring in the New Creation.

Conclusion

But in the meantime, as we are still in the flesh and in the earth, we should remove every obstacle in our way preventing our growth into the image of Christ. We are preparing for glory and for eternity and this must dominate our thinking. We should remember that Christlikeness is the goal, not just knowledge of facts. There is a big difference between knowing certain facts about Christ and the Bible and actually becoming conformed to the image of Christ, which was Paul’s great desire and goal. Our character and living must change. We should be making progress and we should be more like Jesus now than we were earlier.  People should be able to see something is different about us. It is wrong for people to claim to be Christians but be nothing like Christ and to just go on looking like everyone else out there in the world.

When we gather together we are to help one another become more like Christ. Our focus is always to be forward, making progress toward the future goal of salvation. We cannot get wrapped up in the here and now. The world around us will continue to scream for and demand our undivided attention. But our attention must not become divided. Our full attention must be on our glorious calling in Christ. Does that mean we ignore the world around us, as if we are starry-eyed mystics? No. We will be better able and more wise in our dealings with the earth if we are focused on the higher things of the coming Kingdom of God. Did not Jesus say “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you?”