Where Do I Belong? | Philippians 3:17-4:1

Philippians 3:17-4:1  |  Cody Hale

Transcript

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Amen. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. We're going to read verses 17 through chapter 4, verse 1. While you're turning there, I recognize that this is Memorial Day weekend. And for those of you, especially who have served, my experiences is that this is one of the hardest weekends of the year for you. You have brothers and sisters that you loved and knew, that gave their lives to be able to make sure that we're able to gather here on a day like today, open up God's word, and preach without fear of persecution. And so their memory lives on through our worship, through us gathering together to do what we are supposed to do. But my heart is for you. Some of you may have family members that aren't going to be able to come to the cookout this weekend because they gave their life serving our country. Some of you are carrying wounds because of those losses. And so for our pastoral prayer today, I'm going to pray specifically for you. I'm going to pray for our country as we prepare to open God's word together. In Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 17, Paul writes, Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example that you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Let's pray the Lord together. Lord, it is no trivial or trite thing to open up the word of God and to hear it read and to hear it preached, to have the opportunity to hear it read, and the opportunity to preach it. So, God, we thank you first of all for giving us that freedom, for giving us that opportunity. But we thank you also, oh Lord, for those men and women that you have used to so valiantly and courageously to go and to fight enemies that would have us do otherwise, that would try to compel us to put down your word or to put down our worship, those that threaten the freedom that you have given to us. Father, I pray. I pray for the families that don't have their loved ones, that they would have the comfort of your love drawing nearer to them to walk with them through the valley of the shadow of death. I pray for veterans, Lord, who carry the wound in their soul of a lost friend, of lost brothers, lost sisters who they knew and told stories with and shared memories with. I pray that you would draw nearer to them. And Father, I pray that as we open up your word, that Lord, we would have a recognition. That we stand on the shoulders of the church that goes before us that has often been persecuted, and we stand on the shoulders of soldiers who have laid down their lives to ensure that we're able to do this openly and freely and boldly. So, Lord, this morning, we offer up to you our time, we offer up to you ourselves, and we offer up to you our country, our government, our place and role as salt and light. That God, you would let the word of God do its work. That you would bless us and prosper us and show your favor to us, that you would draw us into national repentance and revival. We ask that you would start that here, today, among us. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. So I really love to travel. I I've never really heard of a place that I didn't want to go. And usually when I travel, I like to go and to be able to stay for as long as I possibly can. So it's interesting that as much as I love to travel and as long as I love to stay, that every single time I still look forward to coming home. In 2024, our family, we had the opportunity to go on what was really a trip of a lifetime for us. Our church granted us a sabbatical, and so we went camping for a month out west and visited all these national parks, and it was really just one epic day after another. But as epic as that trip was, I remember us pulling into our driveway, walking through the front door and thinking, man, man, it feels so good to be home. I've come to realize that while I love to travel, I belong at home. We all can identify with that, can't we? God has wired us to want a home, to want a place that we know that we belong. And where you belong, it shapes how you live when you're away. Where you belong shapes what you value, no matter where you are. Where you belong shapes what and who you're willing to ultimately wait for. And so I think that's the reason that Paul is here in Philippians chapter three, and he's asking both the Philippians and now us, where do you belong? Where do you belong? He identifies that there are two different groups of people inside of the church when the church gathers on any particular Sunday. The first group of people are those who belong here, those who belong here. What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian? This is the question that's at the core of what Paul is addressing here. If you would have asked either of the two groups that were there that Paul was addressing on that day, who they were, they would have told you, we are Christians. We believe in the person of Jesus. And yet one group of those people, Paul rightly calls as being citizens of heaven, and the other group of people, he calls them, change my highlighter here, enemies of the cross of Christ. That he's warning the church that someone can claim the name of Christ, use Christian language, gather with Christian people, and still live openly and actively as an enemy of the cross of Jesus. So the question becomes more personal than do I call myself a Christian? The question becomes: does my life verify that I belong to the person of Christ? Because there's a difference between saying that Jesus is Lord and knowing, knowing Jesus as Lord. Paul begins by describing those who claim Christ but belong here, that their lives reveal in them by calling them enemies of the cross, he reveals in them a treason against Jesus' kingdom, that they may wear the uniform of Christianity, but wearing the uniform of Christianity, they are still living for a different nation. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. And so in verse 19, what we see is Paul revealing three anti-gospel values that reveal where their loyalties actually lie. That those who are enemies of the cross say, I can't wait. I can't wait. You know, at its core, faith is really all about waiting, isn't it? If everything Jesus promised was already reality, there would be no need for faith. If all of your questions were already answered, there would be no need for faith. If every reward that you're desiring and long for and that has been assured by Jesus, if you had already received it immediately, there would be no need for faith. But that's not how the Christian life works. That faith lives in the gap between what I want right now and what Jesus says is actually good for me. So there will be moments in my life, there will be moments in our lives in which we want something badly, and Jesus says, Nope, nope, that ain't right. That's not good for you, that's not what you need. And in those moments, my faith will either be revealed by my willingness to wait, or it will be exposed by my refusal to wait. That in those moments and with those decisions, you're revealing what and who and where you're really actually living for. And that's why Paul says that for those who are enemies of cross, he says in verse 19, their God is their belly. That they worship their appetites. They're living bent toward the cravings that they have. They're more interested in satisfying their cravings than they are satisfying the person of Christ. They're look at what Christ offers and they compare it to what they want in the here and now, and they think to themselves, I really just can't wait. I really just can't wait. You see, the people that Paul is describing are people within the church who have a view of the gospel that enables them to do what they really want to do and still feel justified about it. They think to themselves that Jesus has already paid the price for my sin. So what difference does it make? They're wearing the uniform of the cross, but they're abusing its power for personal benefit. It's treason. And that's why Paul calls them enemies of the cross. You know, everyone that's ever lived wants to be able to do whatever it is that they want to do and still feel moral about it, don't they? We want to speak however we want to speak, we want to spend however we want to spend, we want to be able to resent whomever we want to resent, we want to be able to indulge whatever we want to indulge, and we want to be able to do all of those things while still believing and feeling as though Jesus has our backs. And that is why the cross can be so easily twisted. The cross was given to overcome sin, but we're actually tempted to use it to excuse and even justify our sin. We say, well, I mean, Jesus is just gonna forgive me anyway, so go and sin boldly. What difference does it actually make? But if the cross becomes my excuse to keep the sin that Jesus died to conquer, I'm not honoring the cross, I'm abusing it. I'm clinging to a cheapened version of grace, Bonhoeffer says. That's what's usually being said is let me believe in Jesus on my terms. Let me use the cross for my purposes and then leave me alone while I do it. But that isn't Christianity, guys. That's belly worship. Their God is their belly. The next anti-gospel value that we see they have is they say, I can't wait, and then they say, and I won't stop. I won't stop. What's not being described here is a person who finds themselves caught in a pattern of sin that they are desiring to break, that they are working to break, that they are worrying to break, but they're having difficulty. It's not describing someone who's under the conviction of their sin and seeking to repent of their sin and seeking to break and crucify their sin as hard as that is. He's describing the kind of person that has no sense of guilt, no sense of shame over the sin that which they're living in defiance to the will of Christ. He says, not only are they not repentant, but they're proud of it. They glory in their shame, he says. That is, he's describing people who consider themselves to be Christians and yet have zero regrets or feelings of guilt for living a life that is contrary to the values, the ethics, and the actual priorities of the kingdom. Now, why is that? Because they love their way of life more than they love Jesus himself. They love their way of life more than they love Jesus Himself. They love their sins more than they treasure the cross. And it's a type of stolen valor. They glory in their shame, he says. It's despicable, isn't it? We remember this especially on Memorial Day weekend. It is despicable when someone puts on the uniform of one of our soldiers so that they can get all of the benefits of being a soldier without any of the sacrifice or suffering or enduring that is required of one of our suffering soldiers. And yet, this is exactly what we do when we take the name of Christ but refuse the cross. This is what we do when we want his benefits without our surrender. This is what we do when we want his forgiveness without repentance. This is what we do when we want his name without his sovereign rule over our lives. It's stolen valor, it's polluted glory, it's glorying in our shame. Now, sometimes this is obvious. People use all kinds of Christian language to justify and accept all kinds of things that Jesus Himself has said is wicked and stands against him. But most of the time, for most of us who gather in the church, it's more subtle than that. It's more insidious. It's when we baptize our low commitment to the church as personal spirituality. It's when we baptize bitterness and call it discernment. It's when we baptize materialism and call it God's blessing. It's when we it's when we baptize pride and arrogance and we we baptize it as confidence in Christ. It's using the name of Jesus in a way that benefits us, but shames him. It's stolen valor. Finally, as enemies of the cross, we say, I can't wait. They won't stop. And ultimately, they they bring all of it together as a composite by saying, and I love it here. I love it here. They may enjoy, they gather with the church. He's writing this to a church. These are people that come to church. So they may enjoy visiting something of heaven when they gather with the church on a Sunday, but they really feel most at home when they're in the world. Because this is where they belong. He says their minds are set where? On earthly things. Their values are formed here. Their priorities are cemented here. They love it here. Now, I sometimes can be apt to overstate a point. I don't want to overstate my point in this case. You guys don't know me super well yet, but one of the great fears of my life is that I would bind a genuine and sincere Christian's conscience in a way that is not fitting of the Lord or fitting of the scriptures. I don't want to overstate my point. You are meant to get married here and you are meant to enjoy that marriage. You are meant to have children and you are meant to enjoy those children. You're meant to have work and you're meant to find meaning in that work. You're meant to have good friends that you laugh hard with. You're meant to enjoy nature. You're meant to go and to do fun things. That's not what's being critiqued when he talks about with minds set on earthly things. No, he's talking about the difference of being in the world, but not of the world. He's talking about the difference of living a life here for Jesus, even though your heart is moving toward Jesus there. So the concern here isn't that you would have someone who's following Jesus and that they would have a joyful life. The expectation is that you're going to follow Jesus and have a joyful life. Jesus, if you're following him, was the most joyful man that ever lived on the face of the earth. He says in John 15, I want you to have my joy and for your joy to be full. No, the concern here is a worldly person living a worldly life and trying to baptize it as Christianity. Paul wants you to become self-aware of this because why? Their end is what? Destruction. Destruction. They're not self-aware. They're not able to see it. They're not able to recognize it. And so he's showing this all of these symptoms so that we can recognize it in ourselves that we might not find our end as destruction. So how do you know if this is you? How do you know if this is you? How do you know if you're guilty of this treason? How do you know if you're guilty of this stolen valor? How do you know if your mind is set on the things of earth? Well, where do you belong? Where do you belong? When I was 14, my mom took my sisters and me on a trip to New York City. And, you know, we were literally, y'all remember the Pace Picante commercials, New York City, right? Like, that was my crew, man. I remember we went up there and it was quite the cultural experience from these guys from Rabbit Town, right? I go into a restaurant and I order a biscuit, and you could just see, like, if they were Southern, they would have said, Bless his heart, right? They hand me a bagel. And I'm pretty sure that's the first bagel I had ever seen in my entire life. I remember we went to a grocery store, right? And my my accent is still pretty country, but back then it was a whole nother level, right? And I remember they gathered around us in this grocery store, and people would just say, You guys talk, okay? Could you guys talk? Right? And I remember my little baby sister was like three or four years old, and she said something, and they go, Oh, the baby has it too, right? Like, like it was some disease or something. You know, it was a great trip with a lot of great memories, but I didn't belong there. I didn't belong there. My appetites were different. My way of speaking and living was different. My whole way of life was very different. And that's how Christians live here. We live as visitors with different appetites and a different way of life and a different way of speech and a different way of living. We don't belong here. So let me ask you, where do you belong? Where do you belong? Are you living the same life with the same values and the same priorities as all of your neighbors, or are you just visiting here until you can make it home to be with King Jesus? Where is your home? In Matthew 7, Jesus says some of the most chilling words that we find anywhere in the scriptures. He says, On the day that we stand before him at his judgment seat, that many will say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name? Lord, Lord, did we not do many mighty works in your name? And he will say, Depart from me, for I never knew you. That is, they will live their lives believing that they know Jesus and are saved by Jesus, they're going to be with Jesus, only to be shocked when Jesus tells them that they are actually enemies of his cross, an end will be their destruction. This morning, friends, examine your heart. Examine your heart, search your heart, examine where your belong where you belong, examine where your eyes are found, because here is the good news. Here is the reason that Paul is putting this on our radar. Jesus does not merely expose his enemies, he saves them. He saves them. The savior we await is the Savior who died for his enemies and forgives sinners and changes appetites and transforms bodies and brings his people home. So this morning, if you find yourself and you recognize that you belong here and you are guilty of this treason, the invitation is to not go home in your misery, but to come this morning and to rest in Christ and repent of your sin and to place your hopes in him. Paul wants us to recognize that even within the church, there are those who belong here, but then there are another group of people. Those who he calls citizens of the kingdom. And they don't belong here, they belong there. They belong there. You know, I love to travel so much that I've never been one to really struggle with homesickness very much. I wasn't that kid who was spending night at a friend's house and would call his mom and say, Mom, please come get me. I was that friend, that kid that would call mom and say, Hey, mom, I want to decide to stay like two or three more nights. Would that be all right with you? Right? But I do know what homesickness feels like. A couple weeks ago, I told you guys about the near-death experience that I had when I was in Africa. And then there's all kinds of layers to that onion to peel back, so many, so many traumas to be able to cope with. But I I remember one of the memories that are most vivid to me was I was at the moment that it was most dire, and the situation was kind of reaching fever pitch, I was in the fetal position in the back of a the backseat of a 15-passenger van. We were on a four and a half hour journey from Lichtenberg, South Africa, to Johannesburg. And I began to really become aware that the situation was potentially mortal and that um that it was a dire situation. And I began to just want to hear, just I began wanting to hear my wife's voice. So sorry. Didn't expect that. So I had them. Call her. Basically, so I could say bye. I didn't know if I was coming home. And I remember calling her and talking to her and hanging up and beginning to pray the same prayer over and over and over. Lord, it's okay if I die, and it's okay if I die doing this, but I just want to go home one more time and see my girls one more time. I wanted to be at home more than I wanted my next breath. That's how Paul describes the Christian life. He's saying it's a type of homesickness. It's a type of homesickness where your heart is so with Christ that you want to be with Christ more than you want your next breath here on earth. So he says, Yeah, we're living here. We're living here. But we, our citizenship is in heaven. We live here, but we belong there. We are longing for there. We are yearning for there. We are aching for there. So we await. We anticipate what it's going to be like when we're finally able to be home with him. He's describing it as a heart that is longing, right? As a heart that's longing. This homesickness is us longing for a good meal. You know, you it's interesting, is that if you've ever been homesick, you know that one of those things that you find yourself obsessing over most is just a little taste of home, right? A little taste of home. Megan's grandmother was one of those southern grandmas that communicates love via calories, right? You know what I'm talking about? And so you could sometimes you could pull into her yard, you could get out of the car, and when you got out of the car, you could smell fried chicken in the air, right? But you know what that smell was? It was home. It smelled like home. We've developed a taste for home, haven't we? There's something similar that happens for those whose citizenship is in heaven. There's meant to be a contrast here between verse 19 and verse 21. We've already talked about the fact that their God is their belly. And we describe that their God being their belly, their belly is a description of their cravings. It's a description of their appetites, it's a description of their desires, a description of their longings. But now notice what he says in verse 21. He says, We will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. There's a juxtaposition that's meant to take place. What is contained within your body? Well, your belly is, isn't it? Your belly is, isn't it? So he's not just talking about the transformation of how our bodies will look. He's saying that there's going to be a transformation of what our bodies desire, of what our bodies crave, of what our bodies are wanting. That when he transforms our aching joints and our immune disorders, he's going to transform our appetites too. See, one day, Christian, you're going to fully acquire the taste of heaven. You'll have no appetite for the tainted food of this earth. You'll be able to see in perfect HD quality how rotten it is, and it'll turn your stomach over. You'll only be satisfied by the good food that you find at your king's table. But until then, we await by faith. And how do we await? What does this awaiting look like? We await by denying what our bellies may want in the here and now and choosing what Christ has told us to want in the thereafter. You realize that all of us have disordered desires, don't you? All of us have things that we want that we ought not want. All of us have things that we desire that we ought not desire. All of us have things that we crave that we ought not crave. All of us want things that contradict what God wants for us. Our stomachs are craving food that is poisoned and will ultimately kill us. And the danger of these cravings is that they can become so integrated within our lives that they become normal to us. And so we stop being able to see exactly how lethal they actually are. It's when you know you ought to tell the truth, but you always tweak the story just a little bit to make yourself sound a little bit more impressive. It's when you know that you ought to forgive, but holding on to the resentment and the bitterness just feels better in the moment. It's knowing that you ought to be bold about your faith and live out your faith, but instead you find yourself being too bent toward caring about the opinions and the fears of others. It's knowing that you're meant to have sex within God's design and the way that God has designed it and the way that God has intended it. But your body and your cravings are desiring something different, and you're tempted to justify it based upon what your body is saying. All of us have aberrant, disordered desires. But the difference between those who are enemies of the cross and those who are citizens of heaven is the willingness to wait by faith until the taste of heaven is fully acquired. It's the willingness to deny yourself what your belly is craving and trusting by faith that is actually what is best for you and actually is going to lead to your flourishing. It's being willing to deny yourself something that would seem satisfying in the here and now because you trust that you will be so fully satisfied then in the thereafter. You trust by faith that this denial, painful as it might be, actually promotes your flourishing. So we're longing for a good meal and then we're longing for fresh clothes. On the mission trips that I've been on to Africa, I've gotten to go, I think, seven or eight times, something like that. Uh typically what we would do is we'll take two weeks of clothing and we'll pack it into one uh carry-on piece of luggage. And it's not a domestic carry-on, it's an international carry-on, right? So we're talking about a tiny little box, right? And the only way that you can really make it two weeks with one little carry-on piece of luggage is to recycle some clothes, right? Um and you're you're doing some pretty sweaty, dirty work. So by the time I get home, one of the things that I am most looking forward to is a good shower and fresh clothes. It's really amazing how much of how comfortable we feel and how much like ourselves we feel comes down to the clothes that we wear, isn't it? Isn't that interesting? There's something of that here when he talks about the transformation of our lowly body into his glorious body. Earlier I mentioned that this isn't just talking about our physical bodies, but also the appetites that are contained within our physical bodies, but it is talking about our physical bodies too, and we shouldn't move too quickly past that point. You see, what's interesting is it's confirming for us two things that Christians believe to be equally true, and it's holding them in the proper attention. You know, on one hand, your body is you. It's you. As Christians, we aren't confused by the gender dysphoria of our age. We recognize that God has made us as us, and as us, we are in his image. So if I come and I stab you in the arm, your response to me is not, oh my, you have stabbed me in the fleshly vessel which beareth my inner spirit. Now what do you say? Yo, bro, you stabbed me. You stabbed me, right? Because your body is you. So, on one hand, Christians believe that this current body of you is fully you, but though we believe this current body of yours is fully you, we don't believe that it's the finished you. That there is an ultimate, more glorified version of your body that is coming. That these dirty old clothes are actually my clothes, but it is still right and reasonable and good for me to long and look forward to the day in which they will be renewed, and I will put on his glorified body. That's the case for our bodies. Think about what that's gonna be like. One day, one day, all of the scar tissue in your body is gonna be replaced with new flesh. One day, all of the emotional debt that is accumulated in all of the pathways of your brain, all that debt's gonna be canceled. One day, the disordered neurological and circulatory systems that are constantly betraying you, one day they're gonna be operating at peak efficiency so that you never even think about them again. You know, one of the reasons, one of the reasons that we're tempted to set our minds on earthly things is because deep down we know that our bodies are breaking down, don't we? It confronts us with our own mortality, it confronts us with the reality that we are we are living in light of something that is coming to an end and coming to an end really quickly. Aging is a paradox, isn't it? On one hand, aging is such a beautiful and wonderful gift. But on the other hand, aging is a big flashing billboard that reminds us over and again, every time we look in the mirror, that this world is not as it ought to be. Aging lets us enjoy great moments and to grow in wisdom. It gives us memories and grandchildren and stories that we wouldn't trade for anything. But at the same time, with every passing year, sin's curse is more deeply evident even in our own faces. And so we can be tempted to believe that we need resurrection insurance. That's what earthly mindedness really is. It's living as though you need a backup plan in case the resurrection isn't actually true. It's dropping your eyes from the horizon of heaven to what's all around you and allowing your heart to settle for what you can buy and what you can touch and what you can experience and feel and control in the here and the now. But Christian, you don't need insurance. You have a savior. You don't need insurance. You have a verified, authenticated savior, and you have a new body that's coming, and it'll beat your current body at its highest peak. You are gonna put on fresh clothes that are gonna reveal most clearly and most evidently God's image in you. You have a new body coming, and with your new body comes a new life that's coming with it, and it'll be filled with memories more precious than your most precious memories in the here and now. So you don't have to live now fearing that in some way you're gonna miss out on your best life. Your best life is not behind you, your best life is certainly not right now. Your best life is in front of you, it lies in the place with Christ. So, Christian, wait. Await the coming of your Savior Jesus. I know you're homesick, and I know, I know you want all this to be over. I know, but await because Jesus really is coming. You're going to have a good meal and fresh clothes, and man, aren't you longing for your favorite chair? You know, the thing about home is that you have your place there. I can already tell you where Jimmy Hale, my dad, is gonna go and plant himself as soon as he gets out of Iron City Baptist Church this morning. I can already tell you where my father-in-law is gonna go and sit as soon as he gets home from church today. I can already tell you where I'm gonna sleep through the middle innings of a Braves baseball game this afternoon. Because it's my place. It's my place, it's established, it's settled, it's comforting and disarming. It's the place in this world that I most belong and that I most feel like myself. And that's why nothing cures homesickness like a good meal in your favorite chair, right? That image helps us to understand what Paul is saying here. That we long to have our place. We long to be settled, we long to be comfortable, we we long to know that we are home. And Paul is saying that our hope of having that place and that home rests in Jesus and the fact that Jesus says that all things are subject to himself. In other words, Jesus isn't just barely able to get you home. Jesus is able to bring you all the way home because he is ruling over every place in all of the cosmos, including in Collierville, Germantown, in your life. Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you, Disney. Jesus says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Do you know what that means? Think of that. Your place is already prepared. Your favorite chair is already waiting for you. And it's a throne. It's a throne seated beside Christ, who is ruling over all things in all places at all times. So stand firm. Stand firm, thus in the Lord. That's the point. That's the point. Wait by faith. Don't don't trade the feast for the appetites. Don't trade glory for shame. Don't live as though this world is home. Fix your eyes on the Savior who is coming from heaven and stand firm. Because, child of God, your home is with Jesus. It's not here. Your home is with Jesus. That's where you belong. It's not here. But it's coming soon. Just wait. Just wait. And stand firm. Let me pray first.