“Another Step Closer”   2012

Deuteronomy 10:11-16          Philippians 3:4b-9

 

Deuteronomy 10:11-16

11The Lord said to me, “Get up, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and occupy the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.” 12So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. 14Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, 15yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.

 

Philippians 3:4b-9

4… If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.

 

When I was growing up, I knew of no greater heroes

            than the astronauts of Mercury and Apollo space programs,

                        especially those who left their footprints on the moon.

 

In his book, "Return to Earth", Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin

            describes how his whole life, his highest dreams and efforts

                    had been all-out commitment focused  on getting into space

                             and being among the first to walk on the lunar surface.

 

It was an incredible and historical achievement

            that caught the whole world’s attention and admiration,

                        and after they returned from space,  the lunar astronauts

                                    were sent on a world-wide  year-long hero’s welcome.

 

Aldrin explains in his book, how at the end of that year of travel,

            that as things slowed down a bit and tried to return to normal,

                        he fell into a very deep and dark  destructive depression.

 

            He had achieved his highest goal and aspiration in life,

                        and now he felt empty with no purpose left to strive for.

 

Consider that having been the first to walk on the moon,

            what possible achievement would ever matter after that?

                        And from then on,

                                    what else could life be   but decline and looking back?

 

I first read Aldrin’s book just out of college in my early 20’s,

            and I was shocked, disappointed and disillusioned

                        that one my heroes could be so publically fragile and weak.           

As a young man bursting with energy and optimism,

            it seemed that with more willpower, guts and grit,

                        he should have been able to handle things a bit better…

                                        … so I set the book aside as pointless and irrelevant.

 

But when I reread Buzz Aldrin’s book a couple of decades later,

            it made more sense to an older, more tested and  mature me.

                        I don’t think I had lived and experienced enough,

                                    and couldn’t appreciate the issues Aldrin was facing  …

       … I was too young  for some of life’s realities to make sense to me.

 

In a way, this passage from Philippians is something like that,

            offering a perspective of wisdom and mature understanding

                        that comes only with life experience and patient endurance.

By the time Paul wrote this,

            he was an old and well-tested  man of faith and Christian living.

 

            He had traveled many – many long years of Christian service,

                        and the words he wrote were seasoned by the passage of time

                                    and by his lifelong experience of walking with God.

He was writing from inside a prison cell, maybe in Rome or Ephesus –

            - near the end of his life and ministry.

 

These are the reflections and teachings of a life-weathered saint;

            someone who had drawn close to the Lord over the many years

                        of having endured struggles, adversity and disappointment,

                             and who knew firsthand the steadfast faithfulness of God…

   … a confident faith that was like a rounded pebble on the beach

            that had been worn smooth by the constant tide of crashing waves.

 

In this letter of Philippians in particular,

            Paul is reflecting back over his life and travels,

                        his victories and struggles along many miles of journey…

… and he is thoughtfully evaluating the meaning & purpose of his life;

            not by asking,       did I achieve my goals or was I successful,        

                            but what really is   important?

                             what in life  does matter most,  what actually endures?

 

The Apostle Paul was the one who had started the church at Philippi.

            But after he had moved on to preach the gospel elsewhere

                        other teachers and preachers had come along à

 

      -- who had boasted of their impressive credentials;

                        and were trying to turn the Christians at Philippi

                                    against Paul and the Gospel truths he had taught them.

 

These other traveling preachers were teaching

          that Paul had taught only a small part of the truth ---

-- and to be better Christians, now the church at Philippi

          needed to adopt more details of Jewish rituals and traditions …

                             … that God’s grace alone, wasn’t quite enough.

 

Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian Christians

            because those traveling preachers were teaching a false gospel

                        that was wrong and would be spiritually destructive.

 

The whole point of the Gospel and grace through Jesus Christ

            is that     what makes us holy and acceptable to God ---

                    is not  our human effort or our spiritual achievement,

                             but is solely and entirely    by God's grace alone…

 

…  and any other stuff –

          anything other than seeking to know, love and walk with God

                 is a distraction that draws us away from what really matters,

                             which is to live a life

                                      defined by the grace and blessings of the Lord.

 

So since the Christians in Philippi had been taken in by

            those other preachers & were so impressed by their credentials,

Paul had no choice but to reassure them by listing his own,    vs. 4~8

            If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; …

 

Then he continues:         

            Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

 

Paul’s point was that he could certainly hold his own

            in a battle of Jewish credentials, achievements and heritage,

                        but that he threw all that stuff aside – as rubbish,

                                    because salvation is by grace alone,

                                                and none of the other   really matters or endures.

 

When Paul was found and claimed by Jesus  on the road to Damascus,

            it had completely reordered his whole life

                        and everything he had known and believed up to that point.

His religion suddenly become   relational rather than   ritual,

            as he switched from trying to climb   the ladder of the Law,

                        to instead riding with Christ,           the elevator of grace.

 

Now in prison at the twilight of his life and ministry,

            Paul's driving ambition is to walk ever closer with Christ

     and to release and reject all of the stuff

            that hindered or distracted from his relationship with Jesus.

 

The other passage we read today is from another aging saint

            who was looking back, and had a very similar message.

   Deuteronomy is the last teaching of Moses, a very old man 120 years.

Now at the end of the long Exodus journey from bondage in Egypt,

            they are poised at the fulfillment of God’s promises,

                        ready to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land.

 

This section begins with a recounting of what God has done for them,

            and then Moses poses a very important question,  vs. 12a

                        So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you?

 

    Considering all that God has done for you,

          what is the appropriate response to God’s gracious blessings?

Moses answers, vs. 12b-13

           Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.

 

'fear of the Lord'

            is not so much about being afraid of what God might do,

                        but its respect, reverence, grateful awe …

…  all because God loves us and wants our lives to go well,

            and wants us to know him, to obey and walk with him,

                        and live within the blessings

                                    and the purpose that God intends for our lives…

 

… not because of something we can do or achieve,  but, vs. 15

            “the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you”

God and God's desire for humankind has not changed  since then ---

        God has always wanted humanity to receive his love and blessings.

 

          God revealed this unmistakably through Moses,

                   in the person, the ministry and sacrifice of Jesus;

                                       and when the Apostle Paul learned of this truth,

                                                 that became the driving ambition of his life.

 

As we continue through this season of Lent and faithful reflection,

            the question is,    Just how important

                                                    is God’s grace through Jesus Christ  to me?

 

In my spiritual journey and my own life of faith,

          is growing deeper and closer to Jesus really my first priority,à

 

                        is it my driving ambition ……

                                    or am I settling for something    that is far less?

                        and is my focus committed to the right things,

                                    to the things that really do matter most and endure?

 

And how is my life of faith and my service to the Lord,

            my relationship and response to God’s blessing and grace …

                   … any different or deeper than a year ago?...

                             … and am I progressing along my journey of faith?

 

When I took freshmen calculus in college,           whenever someone tried

            to solve an equation with a method learned back in high school

                        rather than what he was trying to show us,

                                    he would get extremely upset and roar at the class:

            "You're here to advance   so try, try to learn something new!"

           

That is still a worthy goal.

            May God grant us courage and desire to step out in faith

                        and strive to move another step closer in our walk the Lord.

 

Today, toward that end, in the quiet of our Communion,

            let us inquire of the Lord and reflect honestly on our lives,

                             that if we do achieve and get what we want most,

                                       what will we really have?  ----

          --   and will it be enough   when we look back and evaluate

                       the value, purpose and meaning   of our one and only life?