Listen to the Sermon or the Entire Service
March 17th:
Call: Psalm 126 (847)
Text: Philippians 3: 11b - 14
Read: W&S #17
Pressing Forward
Next Sunday is my brother Brian's birthday. It will be the 56th time he has celebrated his birthday.
It is an important day for Brian and those of us in his family
However, that is a relatively small number of people
Next Sunday
is also the last day of the greatest sports weekend of the year
For it brings to a close the first week of play
in the NCAA Men's basketball tournament.
That is an important day
for universities, players, coaches, and their families,
for the venues in which the games are played and their employees
for fans all over the country
That is a relatively large number of people.
Certainly many more people than will take note of Brian's b'day
Most significantly though,
Next Sunday is Palm/Passion Sunday which begins
the most remarkable eight day week of the year.
That is an important day
For everyone here
For everyone in churches throughout the world
For everyone who calls himself/herself a follower of Christ
And also, although they don't yet know it,
for others who will someday call themselves followers.
That number dwarfs
the number impacted by the basketball tournament
even if you add Brian's birthday celebrants to it
[Of course, that is not much of an addition
for Brian, his brothers, his sons, and at least 2 of his nephews
all consider the basketball tournament to be much more important than the birthday.]
Because next Sunday is Palm/Passion Sunday
today is not only the fifth Sunday in Lent
It is also Lent's last Sunday before Holy Week
And I am telling you now
That we could not have a better scripture to send us into Holy Week
Than the words from Paul's letter
to the church at Philippi
for we have been preparing for Holy Week
or in more accurate and more Buzz Lightyearlike language
"For Holy Week - and Beyond!"
Thus far this season:
We have heard of warnings and hope and assurance
We have been told
to have confidence and trust
We have been urged
to seek to see (as well as to hear and to follow) the king
We have been
informed that we have been forgiven
and instructed that we have to forgive
We have seen
our sins transformed to ashes
We have reflected on commitments that we have made
like the baptism commitments
to repent and renounce spiritual forces of wickedness
to reject evil, injustice, and oppression
to confess and serve Christ and trust in his grace
and (as parents) to introduce Him to our children
and like the congregational commitments we have made
to faithfully participate in the ministries of the congregation
by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service.
(Commitments of which that we all too often need reminders)
Lent - as I suggested in the March newsletter -
Is like baseball's Spring training.
It is an annual period of learning and preparation
A time set aside to get better for what counts
When the games that count begin
The time set aside for Spring training
Has hopefully improved each member of the team
As well as the way they work together.
When Easter has been celebrated
The time set aside for Lent
Has hopefully improved each member of Christ's family
(And each member and participant in this congregation)
As well as the way we work together,
When Lent ends and the Easter celebration begins
The time for preparing to do what is expected
Is replaced by the actual doing of what is expected
And thus as we approach the end of our Spring training
It is time for a pre season pep talk
And that is exactly what Paul gives us.
He tells us
to stop sitting around talking and debating
And get to work.
He tells us that,
by all we have learned and done during Lent,
we should be transformed into
greater witnesses, disciples, and servants of Christ
Lent was supposed
To have changed us
We were supposed to have allowed ourselves
to have been changed.
And hoping and believing that we have been changed
Paul gives us this pep talk: [Philippians 3: 4b-13]
Good speech. Rockne and Lombardi would be proud
Paul calls on us to
Forget what lies behind
and to strain forward to what lies ahead
Paul commands us to
press on to the prize,
the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus
he does so
after telling us what kind of an impressive resume he has,
but informing us that despite that resume,
he has not reached the goal
that he still must forget the past
that he still must strain forward
that he still must press on toward the goal.
If Paul has to,
Jim Barnes certainly has to
As does everyone else in the congregation.
Unless, of course, we think that we are better followers of Christ
Than the apostle Paul.
It is not always easy.
[Actually it can, at times, be incredibly hard.]
Paul acknowledges that. Look at his choice of words
"strain forward" not "coast forward" or "move forward"
"press on" not "just try it to see if you can."
When I hear "strain forward."
I think of oxen pulling a very heavy load
Or of the "Little Engine That Could" straining for all its worth
To get the train up the hill
And then to the other side..
When I hear "press on"
I think of soldiers moving forward
despite adverse weather conditions and lousy terrain.
And so now I ask,
As Lent draws close to its end
Have we worked hard and paid attention to and reflected on what we have heard?
Has our use of the opportunity that Lent provides, prepared us to slug through the mud of trying to be like Christ?
Has it transformed us into people
Who can forget the past
Instead of letting our failures and the failures of others drag them down?
Has it transformed us into people who will strain forward and press on
Instead of giving up because it is hard to choose God
Over the hundreds of other things
that compete for our priority?
Or have we wasted the opportunity that Lent has provided for us
By choosing God's rivals competitors over God?
I pray that we have not allowed ourselves
To stagnate - or even fall back -
As individuals
And As a congregation.
The good news is
That we have nearly two more weeks to get on board.
The bad news is that Lent does not come around again
Until March 5, 2014 - some 353 days from now.