Be Clear Sighted – 10/08/06
Sermon Series: Seeing things God’s way
Date: 10/8/06
Title: Be Clear Sighted
Text: Philippians 3:13-14
Theme: Be Clear Sighted – Look forward toward the vision that God has given us. Move forward don’t shrink back. The Scripture for this sermon will be Philippians 3:13-14
Introduction: I have a driving problem. I have a tic when I drive that has been a constant source of problems for many years now. I drive wherever I look. If I see something interesting on the side of the road usually, entirely unintentionally, I drive in that direction.
I. Focus Forward
a. Our eyes have to be set toward the Goal
i. Christ likeness.
1. The passage before this was all about the fact that knowing Christ puts everything else into its proper perspective.
ii. The prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus
b. Paul’s forward focusing had to do with his sense of holiness.
i. He understood that his righteousness was not a product of his own actions.
1. In vs. 3-5 he outlines the things that could have imputed a form of artificial righteousness and then he discards them with the idea from vs. 8.
a. “More than that, I also consider everything to be loss in view of the surpassing value of Jesus Christ.”
2. We have to understand that our righteousness does not come from some kind of inherent value attached to ourselves. We have a lot of advantages; we live in a great nation with unprecedented wealth and opportunity. We have a freedom that is unheard of in other places. None of these things makes any difference to our state of righteousness. We are considered righteous for one reason, our connection with God through Jesus Christ.
a. Ephesians 1:3-14 is a wonderful passage that lists some of the blessings that God has destined for all believers. As you read down this list you can see that 11 times in 10 verses these blessings are our because of Jesus.
i. Vs. 3 – “every spiritual blessing…In Christ”
ii. Vs. 4 “chose us… in Him.”
iii. Vs. 5 “adopted… through Jesus Christ.”
iv. Vs. 6 “favored us…in the Beloved”
v. Vs. 7 “In Him we have redemption”
vi. Vs. 9 His good pleasure …planned…In Him”
vii. Vs. 10 “bring everything together in the Messiah”
viii. Vs. 10 “things on heaven and earth in Him”
ix. Vs. 11 “In Him …made an inheritance”
x. Vs. 13 “In Him …heard the word of truth”
xi. Vs. “In Him…sealed with the Holy Spirit”
ii. Paul uses a word in the verse 13 when he talks about not having reached his goal yet that really means that he has considered his life before and has reasoned out the conclusion that his prior life, as good as it seemed to be, was nothing because of missed focus.
c. Forward focusing means that our eyes are firmly riveted on Jesus. No matter what kind of life we lived before knowing Jesus, either good or bad, now we have to live with Jesus in our sights. Our old life is behind us and we must look forward to Jesus.
II. Focus Fully
a. Secondly we must focus fully.
i. The verb that Paul uses to characterize his action toward the goal, translated pursue in the HCSB, is one of intensive action.
ii. God does not desire part time Christian athletes.
1. Have you heard the expression that we need to do one thing and do it very well. Paul here says that there is one thing that he does.
2. The term that he uses to talk about reaching forward which is an athletic term of Paul’s day which speaks of hand, or better foot eye coordination of a runner.
3. I am not saying that we all need to quit our jobs and enter into a full time paid ministry position. That would not fulfill God’s command to us. What I am saying is that when you enter onto the road of Christian faithfulness you don’t take part of the time off. A Christian is a Christian every minute of every hour of every day.
iii. Be constant and consistent in action
1. Our walk is about claiming the victories of now and looking for the next area of life that we need to conquer for Christ.
2. Athletic training is always about constancy.
3. Part of our training is living in a world that runs at cross purposes to the kind of living that we are called to do.
a. Examples of this last weeks darkened world.
i. The shootings in the Amish school.
ii. The Senator who has admitted to wrongdoing.
b. Living in this kind of world as a Christian will sharpen us into the people that God is expecting us to be.
III. Focus Finally
a. Being clear sighted requires a forward focus and a full focus but it also requires a final focus.
i. A final focus is one that begins with the end in sight.
1. I think that probably a lot of people were like me when I came into a saving relationship with Jesus; I had a very selfish faith. I was saved and that was enough for me. Although I was very excited about my faith personally I really didn’t think that I was required to share that faith with anyone else.
2. A faith focus with the end in sight means that I give up the right to set my life goals that right belongs to God and as such I need to understand what His goals for me are.
a. A Focus of witness: One of the things that I know is a priority of His as I stretch out to the goal of spiritual maturity is that He wants the whole world to get the same message that I got.
b. A community focus: God has also always focused on the community of believers. The Christian walk is never a solitary walk it is one that is shared with others.
ii. Another aspect of a final focus I one of joyful anticipation of the Jesus coming back to claim His Church.
1. This means living now with the concept of Heavenly citizenship. Vss. 20-21.
a. We are here on a work visa and we need to constantly be doing our part in kingdom work as we joyfully wait for the time when we will be called home.
