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 man’s
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 isn’t 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 can’t 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, can’t 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 God’s 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 don’t 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 can’t 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 can’t prove that because they can’t 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 don’t
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 Paul’s 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, you’d 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 God’s 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 life’s 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 life’s 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 life’s 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 God’s 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.
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