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University SDA Church- East Lansing

David Shin

Not Arriving, Striving

Let's bow our heads as we pray this morning, our father in heaven, we thank you for the Sabbath, first Sabbath of the New Year 2014. And as we look back and reflect on 2013, we thank you for the blessings as well as the challenges. We don't know what the future holds, but we recognize that we have nothing to fear for the future except we shall forget how you have led us in the past. So bless us this morning as we open your word, as we reflect, as we look forward, as we ponder our present, that you would speak to our hearts, that you would hide me behind the cross. May Jesus be uplifted and seen. For we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Good morning, happy savage and happy new year. It's hard to believe that it is 2014. Can you imagine we are 14 years, we're going into our 14th year into the new millennium and this is the first Sabbath of the new year. It's a natural time, especially in January that individuals reflect. I think we should all reflect it's a good thing for us to do. But somehow in January, millions of people around the world reflect on the previous year and look forward to the new year. And it's an interesting place that we have between the future and the past that we ponder our present and many individuals do what they call New Year's resolutions. How many of you did some New Year's resolutions for the New Year? All right, this is a common practice that individuals have done. And even in the Christian experience we have the same reality. We have what we were before Christ, we have what God has for us in the future. And in between these two realities we have the present. So this morning, with that in mind, I'd like to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to our scripture reading if you have not already, Philippians chapter 3, 13 50 in the Pew Bible that is in front of you there, 1350 Philippians chapter three. Here Paul ponders the past. He looks into the future and looks at what he is to be doing in the present. Philippians chapter three, and let's start in verse one will read all the way up until verse 8, 13 50 in your pew Bible. Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. For to me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. And he goes on and lists all the things that he can be confident in the flesh regarding himself. Circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law, a pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church concerning righteousness, which is in the law blameless here. Paul has just gone through his resume of all the things that he has done that he can claim to being righteous. And in verse seven he says, but what things were gained to me? These things I counted. What does it say in your Bible? I counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and I count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. I like to highlight a couple verses in here. The verse one is verse eight, he says, yet indeed I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. And in verse nine, he goes on by saying, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, can you say amen? Amen. The righteousness that we have is not within ourselves. It is what Luther calls an alien righteousness, which is outside of ourselves and nothing we can do can earn our salvation. Praise the Lord for that. Jesus. Nothing you can do can merit your eternal life. Nothing you can do can cause you to earn salvation in regards to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. What you just said, I totally, but on the end of the sentence it says, I have counted these laws for Christ. Amen. And we can connect afterwards. Catherine, if you don't mind, I count all things but loss for Christ. And here he talks about this concept of righteousness by faith, a righteousness that is not derived from ourselves, but a righteousness that comes only from Christ. Nothing that we can ever do can inherit our eternal life. He then goes on in the next verse, few verses there in verse 12 and 13, let's read on before I highlight this verse in verse 10, that I may know him and the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have attained or am already perfected, but I press on that, I may hold on that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold onto me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. So here Paul talks about his past. He says, forgetting the things which are behind the next part, he talks about the future, forgetting that which lies behind and reaching forward to that which lies ahead. So here Paul is between two realities between the past and the future, and he says, we must forget those things which are behind. Now, looking back on 2013, I don't want you to invite, I don't want you to raise your hands, but how many of you have some things that you've done that you are not proud of? Now you don't have to raise your hands. How many of you made mistakes in 2013? How many of you did some things that you'd rather not everyone in this congregation to know? How many of you had to ask forgiveness in 2013? Well, the beauty of the gospel is that we can forget what God has forgiven. God has buried to them in the depths of the sea. I think of that one dream that Martin Luther had where de the devil was going through the whole litany of all the things that he had done. He had a huge list of scroll. At the bottom of the scroll, he was holding his hand and it was a list of all the things that Martin Luther had done. Martin Luther was overwhelmed with the sense of his guilt. And finally he said, look, I want to see the bottom of the scroll. The devil would not let him see it. He's in the name of Jesus. Let me see the bottom of the scroll. And he removed his hand and he said, forgiven and forgotten by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the beauty of the gospel, that we can forget what God has done by forgiving us for our sins. We can forget our past. And he says, reach forward to what lies ahead. This is the reality that as Christians, we live between the past and the future in the present. And here is Paul's attitude when he talks about the future, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. Just as a parenthetical note here, when we talk about perfection, the Bible does not talk about perfection in terms of a point. We can never say I am perfect. I heard one individual that said, you know, I haven't sinned in two years. I am perfect. Well, that person just lost their track record because they, you know, pride is a sin as well. You know, the closer we come to Jesus, the more sinful will appear. So even Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament, look at this passage. He says, look, I haven't attained, I haven't achieved. I am not perfect. He says, I'm not there yet. But look at the attitude of Paul between the past and the future. His attitude in the present are these words, forgetting what lies behind what is highlighted there on the screen. It says, reaching forward to what lies ahead. And I press toward the goal of the prize, up of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many are, are perfect, have this attitude. So even though God has taken care of our past, he secured our future. In the present. Paul says that we are depressed, we are to reach in the Greek. This is a, a term that is used for straining and stretching. And it seems like a contradiction because if there's nothing that we can do to inherit salvation, if there's nothing we can do to earn or merit salvation, then why does Paul use this verb in the Greek of straining and stretching in the present? It seems contradictory. There's one illustration that I see in the Bible is found in John chapter 15. And here in Michigan, we are well known for our berries and our grapes. And this may be an illustration that is familiar to some of us. He talks about divine and the branches. And I'll paraphrase. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. And he talks about bearing fruit. If you abide in me and I in you, I, you will bear much fruit. And here we have the illustration that Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. The fruit are good works. Now, in order for the branches to bear fruit, what is the role of the branches to stay connected, right? The role of the branches is to stay connected. In other words, the branches can't think to themselves, look, today I need to bear fruit. Their focus is not on bearing fruit. Their focus must be on being connected. And Jesus, in John chapter 15, verse five says, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for apart from me. You can do what you can do. Nothing. I think that many times in our Christian experience, we get confused because we focus on our works. When in reality the role of the Christian in the present between the past and the future is to focus on total dependence upon Christ. Amen. Total dependence upon Christ. Just as the branches cannot say, look, I need to bear much fruit. That is not their focus. Their focus is abiding in Christ. Their focus is total dependence upon Jesus, between the past and the future. Paul says that we must strive to stay connected to the vine. And fruits works are a natural result of being connected to the vine of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Now, what is our motivation? Our motivation to strive to abide in Jesus? The only analogy I can think of is marriage. When you get married, especially in a relationship between a husband and a wife, the husband can never think, look I've arrived. Is that right? In a relationship, you can never think I've arrived. A husband doesn't think I've arrived. No more flowers, no more birthday cards, no more. You know, Valentine's, no more dinners out because I've arrived. You know, we're married. What else do I have to do? This is not the truth. And the reality is that the husband in a healthy relationship anyway, does not buy flowers for his wife in order to earn her love. He does not write her cards in order to earn her respect. He does it the other way around. He buys her flowers because he loves and is the same way in our relationship with Jesus Christ because he has secured our past, because he has our future. That in the present we strive to stay connected because of our motivation, which is born from what God has done for each one of us. Amen? So here we are, the first Sabbath of the New Year. I don't know what the future holds, but I know this, that between the past that Christ has secured and the future that I know that he has in store for each one of us, that in the present, let's make 2014 a year of total dependence upon Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. That's what he wants us to do. That's what he wants us to be by his grace. And here it is in Revelation chapter one, verse four, grace to you and peace from Him who is the past, the God who was, and the God who is to come. The God who is the present, the God who was the past, and the God who is to come. God has secured your past, God has secured your future. And in the present here and now, he says, trust me and depend on me to bring you through. I'd like to invite you to stand with me as we prepare to close here this morning. Every head bowed and eyes closed. I'm just wondering if there's someone here today that has a burden on their heart. Perhaps in 2013 there are some things that happened that they'd like to forget. They would like to bury in the depths of the sea. You look forward to 2014 and there's some insecurity. There's some things that you don't know about the future, and it's in between these two realities that you are experiencing a lack of peace in your life. Perhaps there's some anxiety in your life. And right now, on the first Sabbath of New Year, you want to dedicate 2014 to God and saying, Lord, help me this year to depend on you, to be connected to you as the vine is to the branches. I want to commit my life to you this year to you in 2014. If that's your desire. I wanna invite you to come forward for special prayer here this morning between the past and the future and the present. You want to dedicate this year to God by his grace and say, Lord, I don't know what the future holds, but this first Sabbath of New Year, I want to depend upon you. I want you to work in my life both to willing to do. If you're a good pleasure, friends, Jesus is coming soon. I don't know what this new year brings. There may be tragedy, there may be challenges, but whatever it may be, God promises to sustain us. And we can decide this first Sabbath of the New year to say, Lord, I don't have the answers, but you have the answers. I don't have the strength. But you have the strength. And by coming forward, all we're doing is opening ourselves to Christ, to consecrate ourselves to him, to have him work in us and through us both to willing to do of his good pleasure. Lets bow heads as we pray. Our Father in heaven, we come to you this morning, the verse Sabbath of the New Year. Lord, a lot of things happened in 2013, and Lord, some of the brightest minds in the world look forward to the future. And there is a lot of uncertainty. There's economic uncertainty, there's environmental uncertainty. Perhaps some of us are experiencing health uncertainty. And Lord, we don't know what the future brings, but we do know this, that we have a God in heaven that is able to sustain us through these challenges. And Lord, as we move into this new year, we do not want to move alone. We do not want to be held to our own limitations, but we want to partner with the limitless God of the universe, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. And Lord, I pray that you'd bless every person that's come forward here this morning. Lord, it's a recognition of our insufficiency. Yet at the same time, a recognition of your sufficiency. And Lord, this year we want to dedicate ourselves to you. May you work in and through us. We dedicate our families, our homes, our marriages, our lives to you in 2014. Bless us as we move forward. We dare not move alone. Guide us as a church, as a church family, as couples, as children of the Heavenly King. May you protect us, may you guide us, may you bless us and be with us as we move forward into this new year. Bless every person in this sanctuary with your Holy Spirit. Cover them with your robe of righteousness. For we ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. This media was brought to you by Audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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Not Arriving, Striving

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