WADING RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

SERMONS IN PRINT

Peter Vibert 5/21/06

Philippians 3:1-4:1 “Confidence”

Some level of self-esteem, mental health professionals tell us, is essential for normal human functioning (I’m not sure how that would go down in somewhere like Gaza, or Haiti, or Darfur!). In our culture, some people in education or even in the church have wanted to elevate having good self-esteem to a major life goal, or have blamed the lack of it for all our societal ills. At least let us allow that nobody flourishes if they think they “stink” as a person, as a spouse, as a parent, as a worker – that will lead you into major depression or into irresponsible behavior.

What happens if you lose your self-confidence? Some people see it erode slowly over time: a marriage that starts out well becomes a relationship of constant criticism and barely concealed contempt; children who seemed so promising turn into rebellious adolescents; the career that seemed to be going well ebbs away until you face being unemployed in your 50s. So your self-confidence as a spouse, as a parent, as a worker, gradually decline. Or maybe it happens without warning: your spouse has an affair, your child is arrested, you are fired from your job. Much of what you had relied on for your self-image is shattered.

1) Paul’s Loss

The apostle Paul suffered a reversal like this that literally knocked him off his feet. He had been raised as a good 1s C. Jew; born of Jewish parents, circumcised according to the Law of Moses on the 8^th day, a member of the esteemed tribe of Benjamin, trained as a Pharisee (under the great Rabban Gamaliel), a punctilious observer of the Law and all the traditions, “righteous” and “blameless” in his own eyes and in those of his peers. He had proved it beyond doubt when the troublesome Nazarene sect had arisen, and he had become a zealous “point man” for the priestly sect in rooting out the followers of this Jesus.

But all that had changed in a moment, in a flash of light, as he was traveling to Damascus to arrest more of these troublemakers. In a moment, Paul’s whole world fell apart, when he heard the voice of the resurrected Jesus ask “Saul, Saul,” (that was his Jewish name then), “why are you persecuting me?” In a moment, all the stories of Jesus became true: who he was, what he did, why he was the one to follow! Saul the Pharisee was undone, in a moment. What do you do when you discover that your whole life to that point has been based on a lie?

It took Paul, as he became known, years to fully absorb the new truth he had learned about who Jesus was. But he turned into the greatest apologist for Christian faith of the 1^st C. And his understanding of what it means to turn from self-confidence to Christ-confidence would gradually transform the culture of the whole Mediterranean world. As he writes to his Christian friends in the Greek-but-Roman-colony city of Philippi, all his earlier life he now counts as “loss.”

He had been relying on his own “Torah-observance” to identify himself as a Godly person. He had gladly embraced all the “religious markers” of Pharisaic Judaism: circumcision, Sabbath observance, food laws; ritual washings and separating yourself from everyone and everything considered “unclean.” Suddenly, all those things became meaningless when he met the risen Jesus. Now life was about “knowing Christ.” That was the meaning of life, that was the way to fellowship with God, that was the way to being truly righteous. Now he was righteous not because of what he did or did not do, but because he believed that Jesus was the incarnate Son of God, the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. He had discovered what had been revealed to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people: that belief is credited by God as righteousness.

And all that he had done and been before, Paul now counted as “loss” – a “dead loss” as we might say – or even more graphically, using Paul’s actual language (which the NIV euphemizes as “rubbish”), and for which I will have to ask your forgiveness for even uttering in the pulpit! – Paul saw it all as “crap!” It was worthless; no, more than that: it was filthy, offensive garbage; something you find in the street that the “dogs” scavenge through...

How is that for lost self-esteem? “My earlier life was all rubbish!” Paul has turned his back on all that made him proud of himself; he has decided it was worse than worthless. Why is he not devastated? Because of the prize of “knowing Christ.” Because he now has found the basis of an eternal confidence, a surety far beyond anything he knew before, a certainty that he has finally become a “citizen of heaven,” and that makes all the difference. Righteousness is now something that “comes from God and is by faith,” and it is no longer a matter of what he does or doesn’t do, “religiously” or otherwise. This is no loss, this is gain!

2) Paul’s Goal

Now Paul has a new goal in life. He understands that he has not yet “arrived.” In his earlier life, he was pretty sure that he had “arrived!” He was a “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” one of God’s chosen people, on God’s side, pleasing to God in all he did. Now he knows what it is to experience the grace of God in Christ, and that he has “miles still to travel before dark.”

So he is going to press on, and wants the Philippian Christians to learn to press on, towards the finish line when the prize - Christ himself - will be given them all as a reward for running the race. As an athlete, Paul will not be turning around to see who he is ahead of, or by how far, or where he has been, but he will focus his effort on moving ahead. In this race he will share in the suffering of Christ, the fellowship of Christ, the power of Christ, the hope of Christ. He will not be running alone, and he does not fear “hitting the wall” and fading out before the race ends.

He is going to forget, really forget, all the rubbish that lies behind him. He cannot go back and undo it, he can only be forgiven for it by the grace of God, and once that has happened he wants and needs to forget it. What he has attained to in the Christian life, he wants to hold onto; but the rubbish of his pre-Christian self-confidence and self-righteousness, he does not want to go back to. His goal is Christ, and his aim is to live and run and become all that he should be as a “citizen of heaven.” He wants other Christians to join him in the race, and not be side-tracked by things like appetites that cannot be satisfied, and “glorious” things that are in fact shameful – for there are too many Christians who are living as though they were Christ’s enemies rather than his followers and friends.

3) Esteemed By Whom?

So how are you and I doing? How is our self-esteem, our self-confidence, and where does it come from? Has it been battered by life? Or is it still intact, but in reality attached to illusory things?

I have known several people who in the last months of life have confided to me, “I hope God will be pleased with what I have done.” The question hidden there has always presented a wonderful opportunity to talk about grace, and how salvation is not about our performance, and how God treats us much better than we deserve if we put our trust in Jesus Christ and not in ourselves.

Misplaced self-confidence is an obstacle to the gospel of Jesus Christ. People who think they are doing fine suppose they have no need of repentance, no need of forgiveness, no need of a Savior. It is a widespread problem in our culture, and it persists even in the church, generation after generation. There are always people who imagine that being “religiously observant” will make God pleased with them, and qualify them as citizens of the kingdom of God. It is a great offense to some of them – perhaps even to some of you – to be told that “religious activity” is worth no more than a heap of rubbish. Knowing Jesus Christ is the way to the Father, and having faith in him is the only way to be counted righteous before God.

Why? Because all our supposedly “good deeds” are in fact polluted by self-regard, self-interest, self-congratulation, self-pity, self, self, self... You don’t need especially spiritually sensitive ears to pick this up in the way some people speak – they are defensive, critical, and altogether too self-assured. We all know how to spot this self-centeredness in others, but we are blind to how easily we do it ourselves. But the truth is, when we are “thanking God we are not like other people,” we are – as Jesus said – less ready to be justified than the person who is beating themselves and saying “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

What is our confidence resting on? Too often it rests on our (mistakenly) good opinion of ourselves, or on the praise of other people. And this is where we are easily deflated or defeated, because people may change their minds about us, or let us down just when we need to be lifted up. The person you married, who of course thought you wonderful then, maybe doesn’t any more; they now criticize you often and rarely thank or praise you. The child you spent your life raising is now self-centered, lazy, unemployed, and does nothing to make you feel a good parent.

When we rely on other people’s opinions, on other people’s applause - although we may get enough of it to keep us going for years - sooner or later we find we are in deep water and we’re not getting enough positive support and lift to keep our heads above water. We wonder if we are going to drown. Self-esteem flies away; we are now fighting for our lives, emotionally, physically, relationally, spiritually.

So where do we turn? To Jesus, and to him alone. He is the only one who cares about us, who esteems us, who loves us, enough that it will last all our lives and into eternity! He is the only one whose opinion of us will count in the end, and who can sustain us now in the endurance race. What God thinks of us matters a million times more than what anyone in the world thinks; and his approval is shown to those who put their trust in his Son and not in themselves; they are the ones he “credits with righteousness,” and rewards with the victor’s crown because of their faith.

What are you and I relying on? What kind of “success” do we need to keep us going? Whose opinion gives us confidence for the next week? Our own? Our spouse’s? Our mother’s? Whose approval and affirmation do we need? If it is anyone other than Jesus Christ’s, we will sooner or later find ourselves disappointed, left alone, and “hung out to dry.”

So forget it, forget all that worldly “stuff” that you think supports you, and see it for the “rubbish” it is. Turn your back on your achievements, religious or otherwise, and run towards the “audience of One,” the only one whose opinion weighs anything in the long run; the God who created you and who loves you and who sent his Son to redeem you from the wasteland of self-assurance. May the Lord lead us all safely to the finish line to receive the prize of Jesus Christ himself.

Let us pray...