My Morning Meal

I’m a sucker for talent shows. Not the type where they mock and ridicule people who think they have talent . . . but the type where they give those with legitimate talent a shot. And, on the continuum of competitors, there is the guy, or girl, on the one end, who think they deserve to be there and that it’s the world’s good fortune that it finally gets the chance to discover how talented this guy, or girl, really is. Buzzer . . . 3 X’s. On the other end of the continuum is the performer who is truly thankful for the opportunity to compete . . . often they don’t know the depths of their talent . . . they’re surprised by the affirmation from the audience and the commendation from the judges. And, should they move on to higher rounds, they still maintain a humility which says, “Should I go home tonight, I’m grateful for the chance I’ve had and am privileged to have shared my talents on this stage.” Not gonna lie to ya’ . . . I like those people . . .

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.     ~ Paul    (Philippians 3:12-14 ESV)

Paul considered himself as running a race (1Cor. 9:24, 2Tim. 4:7). This race, the ultimate . . . no, perhaps the only true and legitimate “reality show” . . . this race was less about competing with others than it was about getting to the finish line. And if anyone deserved not to be “voted off” it was Paul. But Paul never lost the sense of the privilege that was his to even be running the race . . . for he considered it an “upward call.”

That’s the idea that’s grabbed me this morning . . . that the Christian life is an upward call.

I sense sometimes that some believers view the command to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1) as the price they have to pay for being saved. Sort of, if you want heaven, then you there’s just some stuff you’re gonna have to do, or not do, on earth. Paul, however, viewed the call, not as a price to pay but, as a privilege to respond to.

Paul, who considered himself the foremost of sinners (1Tim. 1:15) never lost the humility, born out awe and wonder, that Jesus had called him . . . that Jesus had met with him . . . that Jesus had given him a new heart and a new mind to go along with his new name. Paul pressed on not because he had to . . . but because he got to. Paul ran the race not because he kept looking over his shoulder to see if some angel was going to kick his behind if he slowed down . . . but Paul wholeheartedly engaged in the race because of what was ahead . . . the prize before him. He had been privileged to be put in the race . . . and he would run it. He had been blessed to receive the upward call and he would, by God’s grace, pursue it.

I think it was a rush for Paul to “strain forward to what lies ahead” because it couldn’t be done in his own power and strength . . . instead he had to figure out how to use all the tools that had been given him as part of the call . . . experiencing the exhilaration of actually leveraging that which was promised him in order to become a “partaker in the divine nature” (2Peter 1:4). His mind actually being renewed by God’s word . . . His life actually being transformed by the indwelling Spirit. Learning to recognize more the Spirit’s leading . . . being more aware that the thoughts forming in his puny human brain were actually the mind of Christ. Experiencing the reality of the dynamic available to the body of Christ when it came together to be a holy temple for God . . . a dwelling place through His Spirit. I think it was a thrill for Paul to run the race.

Me in Christ . . . Christ in me . . . this is an upward calling. Not something I “qualified for” because of my abilities . . . not something to boast in . . . not a price to pay for sins forgiven. Instead, it is something I’ve been “entered into” because of who Christ is and what Christ has done . . . something to be humbly counted as a blessing to be part of . . . something to be earnestly responded to as a privilege to participate in.

And, should I go home tonight, I’m just thankful for the opportunity to have run the race . . . to pursue the upward call . . . by His grace . . . for His glory. Amen?

Haven’t watched Sesame Street in a lot of years . . . but a learning game on that show came to mind this morning as I was reading. It was the game where four things were displayed together and the task was too identify which of the four was different. Though the objects were all similar, four bowls of cereal for instance, one of them was was not like the other, like one of the bowls being bigger than the other three . . . one of them didn’t belong with the others. I guess it was aimed at helping kids develop pattern recognition . . . at getting their brains to scrutinize for inconsistencies. But this morning I’m thinking that there’s some spiritual benefit from, every so often, lining up my behaviors and attitudes . . . stepping back . . . and asking myself, “Do all these really go together?”

For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh . . .     (Philippians 3:3 ESV)

There they are . . . three things . . . 1) worship by the Spirit of God . . . 2) glorying in Christ Jesus . . . 3) putting confidence in the flesh.

Although all three can appear religious in nature, only two are associated with “the real thing.” One of these things is not like the other . . . one of these things just doesn’t belong . . .

Worship that is real is sacrificial service prompted and enabled by the Spirit of God. Glorying that is authentic is boasting in Christ alone . . . in His perfect Person . . . in His finished work. These are marks of “the real circumcision” . . . the sign of those who are the people of God. Spirit powered . . . Christ focused . . . evidences of the real thing.

Confidence in the flesh? Not so much . . .

Oh, I can go through the Christian motions . . . say the right stuff . . . do the right things . . . dot the right spiritual i’s . . . cross the right spiritual t’s . . . but if I think it’s about my performance and my effort . . . if I think I’m securing my standing before Christ because I’m earning it . . . then I’m not getting it. Confidence in who I think I am or what I think I’m doing just doesn’t belong.

The grace of God that I depended on to save me from my sin, is the same grace I rely upon to sanctify me for His service. Just as I gave all glory to Christ for His work on the cross on my behalf . . . so too, I declare Him alone as my sufficiency as He continues to intercede on my behalf before the throne the Father. What began as a work of God through His Spirit, I recognize as work that will be completed through His Spirit.

Sure, mine is to submit . . . mine is to obey . . . but apart from His divine nature at work in me, I’d be unable to do either . . . the Spirit is doing the work. And yeah, maybe my walk is mostly consistent with my talk . . . but that is only because of Christ in me . . . He, and He alone, gets the glory.

Confidence in the flesh . . . it get’s 4 X’s . . . no place for it . . . no reason for it . . . it just doesn’t belong.

Amen?

You don’t find him mentioned outside of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Don’t know much about his background other than what you might glean from his name. Not really a Jewish name . . . you kind of guess the boy was raised pagan . . . really pagan. Seems he was named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. Literally, his name was “Lovely.” Hows that for a handle for a young strapping boy to have to wear as he grows up?

Hi, what’s your name? . . . Lovely. . . . What’s lovely? . . . Me. . . . Uh, yeah, but I wanted to know your name . . . It’s Lovely. . . . Yeah, I’m sure it is. But what is it, what’s your name? . . . Lovely.

A boy named after a love goddess . . . a young man called Lovely. But somewhere along the way he met the true God . . . the One whose name is Holy . . . whose name is LORD of Hosts . . . whose Son’s name is above all names. At some point Lovely encountered the Lamb. And you glean from Paul’s reference to him, that, in Christ, Lovely lived up to his name.

His actual name was Epaphroditus. He’s mentioned twice by Paul. And, says Paul, he is a man to be honored.

I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need . . . So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men . . .
(Philippians 2:25, 29 ESV)

Check out the many hats this guy wears . . . a brother in the Lord . . . a fellow worker . . . a fellow soldier . . . a messenger . . . a minister. Wow! This guys is . . . well, Lovely!

Not a minister is the sense of a paid clergyman . . . but in the sense of a servant. Sent by the church at Philippi to Paul with a financial gift for the apostle, Epaphroditus faithfully carried their message of support to the prison-bound man of God. And while we don’t know the details, Paul says that Epaphroditus “nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me” (Php. 2:30). Lovely was no pansy.

The journey from Philippi to Rome had, evidently, been a tough one. Epaphroditus had become ill, near to death, as result of pressing on to complete the ministry he had been given. As a soldier enduring the battle . . . as a worker laboring to finish the task . . . he pressed on to make sure that Paul received the gift the Philippians had sent by him. Lovely was no quitter.

And you sense also that Paul really appreciated the guy. Beyond delivering the gift, Epaphroditus was a brother . . . a brother that, had he died, his death would have brought “sorrow upon sorrow” to Paul (2:27). Beyond finishing the job, he also brought a fellowship that Paul valued . . . a kindred spirit . . . through the Spirit. Lovely was loved.

Honor such men. Epaphroditus was kind of a bit player. Shows up only here . . . all he did was carry some money from one place to another . . . though it almost cost him his life. But his name is God-breathed . . . captured as part of the record of God’s inspired Word. And his name is found also in the Lamb’s Book of Life . . . forever written with the blood of Christ by the grace of God.

And, on that day, I wonder if the conversation might go something like this . . .

Well done good and faithful servant. What’s your name? . . . Lovely. . . . Yes it is, My child, yes it is.

Some folks at our church recently returned after four weeks in Arizona. Ask them how it was . . . especially the lady who is “always cold” . . . and they’ll tell you it was wonderful . . . wonderfully hot! How hot? Well, hot enough one day for them to experience a rain shower where the rain never hit the ground . . . where you can see the rain leaving the clouds but evaporating before it reaches the earth . . . low humidity and high temperatures result in the atmosphere absorbing the rain before it touches down. That’s hot! It’s also what came to mind this morning as I was reading in Philippians . . .

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. (Philippians 2:14-17 ESV)

That Paul was the believer’s number one cheerleader is beyond dispute. Next to sinners being saved, Paul was bent on encouraging saints to be solid . . . that they might live in a manner worthy of their calling, worthy of the gospel, and worthy of the Lord who had called them (Eph. 4:1, Php. 1:27, Col. 1:10). That they would work out the practical details of their new life in Christ as God worked in them, enabling them to know Him, to know His will, and to walk in His ways (Php. 2:12-13). That they would be “fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). (Thanx Bob for putting Col. 1:10 on my radar!)

And to that end . . . Paul would go to the nth degree . . . even if it meant being “poured out as a drink offering” (Php. 2:17).

Drink offering . . . kind of an Old Testament phrase in a New Testament world. The drink offering was an integral component of the Old Testament system of sacrifices . . . wine poured out on the altar of flames . . . most often as an accompanying offering to one of the other “offerings by fire” . . . vaporized . . . only a lingering sweet aroma remaining. Paul said, I’m willing to be that sweet smelling vapor upon the sacrificial offering of your faith.

Paul would gladly pour out his life . . . evaporate . . . leave no indicator of his presence . . . if it propelled those he had seen come to Christ to offer their “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). Like that Arizona rain, he would be privileged to be consumed before “hitting the ground” for the sake of lives lived for the glory of God.

And if Paul had the mind of Christ . . . and he did . . . and if Paul was compelled by the Spirit of God . . . and he was . . . then how can I not pause and reflect on the importance of lives well lived for Christ . . . and, on the sacrificial nature of the beloved apostle. Paul, perhaps the greatest of the apostles, but who considered himself the chief of sinners (1Tim. 1:15), was willing to pour out his life for the sake of the children of God. Paul, who, like His Lord, considered others above himself, emptying himself, taking the form of servant . . . becoming obedient even to death if need be . . . willing to evaporate as a drink offering . . . that others might realize their full potential in the faith . . . and that the Christ of their faith might be exalted in and through them.

How important was a “worthy walk” to Paul? . . . Pretty! How invested would he become that others might walk such a walk? . . . Totally!

O to be poured out for the bride of Christ . . . to be a sweet smelling aroma . . . by His grace . . . for His glory . . .

At first glance, the two statements look the same . . . but a bit of noodling, a bit of digging, and you realize that though they are both about being “worthy”, they each have a different emphasis. The more familiar (to me at least) charge in Ephesians is about conduct . . . how I am to walk . . . how I am to live and order my steps . . . it’s about conduct that is suitable for, or consistent with, the calling of Christ on my life. But the other statement . . . the one I encountered this morning . . . the one I read in Philippians . . . while also encouraging a consistent walk, I think is more focused on what’s behind the walk.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called . . .    (Ephesians 4:1 ESV)

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel . . .    (Philippians 1:27 ESV)

See the similarities? Notice the differences?

Both charges suggest that there is a way to do the Christian life that is in line with the Christ who gave us life. To think that we can be saved from the penalty of sin . . . made new creatures in Christ . . . and live like those who haven’t, is foreign to the Scriptures. The privileged position that is ours, through grace, in Christ, should become the practical reality of who we are, through sanctification, by the working of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Regenerated spiritual DNA should manifest itself in reconstituted priorities, decisions, and actions.

But, while the Ephesian’s charge is about ensuring a “walk worthy”, the Philippians exhortation is more about what’s behind the walk . . . the mindset that says pursuing the walk is worth it . . . it’s about the wiring behind the walk.

The term “manner of life” in Philippians 1:27 is the word “to be a citizen.” The ESV footnote offers the literal translation, “Only behave as citizens worthy.”

A godly walk flows from internalizing that we are citizens of a different place. That as servants of the King, we are to reflect something of our kingdom . . . as children of the Father, we are to model appropriate family behavior . . . as sheep in the Shepherd’s fold, we long to hear the Shepherd’s voice and desire to follow in His ways. It’s knowing who we are that drives how we act.

My citizenship is in heaven (Php. 3:20) . . . that’s home base . . . that’s my heritage . . . that’s where my allegiance should be placed, first and foremost. The values of this place shouldn’t be the major influences of my decision making. The measures of success of this society shouldn’t be what’s setting the priorities on my to do list. The accepted behaviors of this “foreign land” shouldn’t quench the distinctive characteristics of those whose home is “beyond the skies.”

My citizenship is in heaven . . . enabled and secured through the gospel of Christ . . . the good news that He who knew no sin became sin for us, “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2Cor. 5:21) . . . the good news “that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2Cor. 8:9) . . . the good news that He has gone to prepare a place for us, “and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). Because of the gospel . . . the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the regenerating work of the Spirit, . . . we “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16).

Oh, to remember my true citizenship . . . that’s the wiring behind the walk that is worthy.

By His grace . . . for His glory . . .

Very few things in this life that we can be absolutely, one hundred percent sure of. Apparently it was Benjamin Franklin who said “The only sure things in life are death and taxes” . . . way to go, Debbie Downer! Really? That’s it? He probably wasn’t overly familiar with the Scriptures. This morning, as I started in on Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I was reminded of something else that the believer can be sure of . . .

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.   (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

What God starts, He will finish . . . we can be sure of this. And our salvation is His work . . . our sanctification is His work . . . a work that He has started . . . a work that He will bring to a “flourishing finish” (MSG) . . . we can be sure of this.

This promise in God’s Word has been on my radar since the very beginning of my Christian walk. In fact, it was a significant anchor during the “toddler phase.” In those first few years, after having believed the gospel and received the Savior, when there were doubts . . . when there were fears . . . when there were failures . . . and more than once, when my faith was being rattled, the Spirit assured me of the reality of this promise . . . that what God had started in my life, He was determined to finish . . . and not just determined to finish, but able to finish.

Today, there are fewer doubts . . . smaller fears . . . still way too many failures . . . and the anchor still holds. My confidence being not in my ability to perform my way to spirituality but in His purposes and power to take that which He has redeemed . . . and regenerated . . . and remake it in the image of His blessed Son . . . for His eternal glory.

It’s when I slip into thinking that somehow it’s up to me to take what God has started, and turn it into what He is expecting, that my legs can get a bit wobbly. To be sure, I have the responsibility to seek to “walk in a manner worthy” of the calling . . . to pursue His kingdom . . . to submit to His lordship . . . to know and obey His Word . . . to be led by His Spirit . . . but even the ability to fulfill that responsibility is His working in and through me. My holy determination . . . but His divine work.

And it’s not so much that being sure of this is a “safety net” . . . or a reason to coast. Instead, it is motivation to the max! It’s the reason every time I trip up, I can get back up . . . being sure of this, God will complete the work. It’s the basis for rejecting the voice of the enemy, the accuser of the brethren, when he whispers, “You’re never gonna get it . . . quit trying” . . . being sure of this, God will have no unfinished projects. It’s the encouragement every time I’m reminded how much a jar of clay I am — a cracked, brittle jar of clay . . . being sure of this, He is the potter and is determined to display me as a trophy of grace to manifest His greatness.

He has begun a work. He has called it a good work . . . not because of who I am and what I can do, but because of who His Son is and what He has accomplished on my behalf. He will bring that work to completion . . . that which He begun by grace through the Spirit, He will finish by grace through the Spirit, for His eternal purposes and glory. And today’s work-in-progress will be fully heaven ready on the day of Jesus Christ . . . when faith gives way to sight . . . when we behold Him . . . and are presented to Him “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing . . . holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27).

I’m sure of this . . .