Foothills Church [audio] Foothills Church

This Thanksgiving week we have the perfect opportunity to practice thanksgiving and model it for those in our lives. The scripture is filled with instructions to be thankful and filled with examples of great men and women of God being thankful and expressing that in a regular and ongoing way, to God and to each other.

This week, we come to a passage that is really heavy on application. If you are the kind of person that likes to come to Church on Sunday morning and just wants to be told what to do, this is the Sunday for you. If you want to cut through the doctrine and the theology and all that fluff and just talk about what we are supposed to do, this is it. Paul is getting to the end of his letter to the Philippians and he is moving from the exploration of ideas to the application of how to live.

Paul’s radical transformation from religious zealot who could out perform any other person in action and knowledge may cause us to think that Paul has figured it all out. That, Paul, somehow has an advantage, that he has reached some type of Utopic spirituality, where he now lives without struggle, without pain, and without sin. It is easy to look at Paul and say, “Now, he has reached perfection.”

Paul’s going…Right! You’re not good enough. You’re not perfect. You’re not blameless. “But! One thing! Here’s one thing that you CAN do.”

“Forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead”

Some of you may have noticed that when our hearts are at peace with God and at peace with key relationships in our lives, we can navigate the stresses of life much, much better. Staying heart connected with Jesus and with one-another provides the needed elasticity to flex and bend with the crazies of life without letting them break us.

The crazy culture that the Philippians faced is similar to the crazy culture we face today. A culture torn apart by conceit, pride, and selfishness. Paul calls/commands the Christians to change their ways and conduct of living to not reflect the world in all its pride but to reflect Christ in all his humility demonstrated in the gospel of his sacrifice.

Now, as we get started today, consider with me for a moment the opposite of humility. That is, pride! Have you ever noticed that pride is a sin that always divides people? Other sins bring people together for a time, as in the case of thieves. They are together at least until the bounty is divided up. But pride always works to divide. It says, “Who I am, what I have or what I want is better or more important than who you are, what you have or what you want.” Pride divides!