Know God - A Worshiping Life

The context of the passage is that there were men who were false teachers teaching the doctrine of the need to be circumcised a Jew to be a Christian. This false doctrine was placing an interminable weight on gentile believers and even Hellenized Jews in the time of Paul. Paul understood that this was a way to control who could be a Christian and in a sense as Jesus noted, “Lock the door for those who would enter eternal life” much like the Pharisees.

Paul was everything these Judaizers wanted. He was a Hebrew. He was circumcised. He had the pedigree - taught in the best schools by the best teachers. He was a Pharisee. In every way, Paul was the consummate Hebrew.

Yet for Paul, the most important thing wasn’t what he was in this life, it was that he Belong to Christ’s

Despite his social standing, despite his religious credentials. Despite his education, despite his background in the “church” Paul understood that without Jesus he was nothing.

As Christians we can do exactly what the Hebraists were doing. We may not require “Jewish” bonafides but we often require social ones. We judge people by where they come from, what they do for a living, what their social background is.

Often we have good reasons for doing this. It may be we’re protective of our children or of our church’s reputation, but the gospel isn’t about where we come from, it’s about Christ.

We’re talking about knowing Christ. For Paul, knowing Christ, worshiping Christ was all that mattered.

Paul was a follower of Christ, not his past.

Jesus is calling us to be all in.

In Jesus day, being a follower meant more than just understanding the teachings of your Rabbi.

To be a disciple meant you were following a rabbi, a teacher. But the goal of a disciple wasn’t merely to master the rabbi’s teachings; instead, it was to master his way of life: how he prayed, studied, taught, served the poor and lived out his relationship with God day to day.

Edward Sri explains,

To follow a rabbi … meant living with the rabbi, sharing life with him and taking part in the rabbi’s whole way of life. A disciple might accompany a rabbi on all his daily routines: prayer, study, debating other rabbis, giving alms to the poor, burying the dead, going to court, etc. A rabbi’s life was meant to be a living example of someone shaped by God’s Word. Disciples, therefore, studied not just the text of Scripture but also the “text” of the rabbi’s life. (2)

Even today we see this as being true. Messianic Jew Joseph Shulam notes that today:

“in Jerusalem you will see Orthodox Jews wearing these big mink-fur hats of different shape even in the sweltering heat of the summer in Israel. These mink hats are of different shapes and height and thickness. Those who know how to distinguish will be able to tell you which Hasidic Jewish rabbi they are following. Following his master, a disciple will wear the same hat, shop in the same shop, and—even if there is only one shop in the world who makes a hat like the rabbi’s hat—you have to buy your hat in that same shop. This is the rabbinical method of making disciples.”

For Paul, following Christ meant that he would do whatever Jesus did. In fact, in Paul’s day, disciples were known for walking behind their rabbi, following him so closely that they would become covered with the dust kicked up from his sandals.

The question is for us, do we do this?

Are we following Christ this close. True worship, truly knowing Jesus means that we are his followers. But when the world looks at you do they see the dust of Jesus on your clothes?

Unfortunately I don’t think that’s what people see when they see the church. We often have churches filled with people who do not truly live for Christ, but see Christ as a valuable addition to their lives.

We have too many preacherettes preaching too many sermonettes to too many Christianettes smoking cigarettes. — Leonard Ravenhill

Our churches are filled with men and women who sing theologically vapid love songs to a Jesus they do not know.

Paul said, “What I had gained I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

If we’re going to Know him, then we must become his disciples. It’s not just about knowing more information about him. It’s about giving all of ourselves to him. Knowing Christ is about changing:

Matthew 16:24 ESV

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Paul is mirroring this truth in this passage to the Church at Philippi. He’s talking about following Jesus. So what will it look like for us to truly worship Christ this year?

Worship begins with Denial (7)

We like ourselves. Let's face it, we love ourselves. We love that we're smart, we love that we're religious, we love that we have stable families. We love ourselves.

But Paul notes that following Christ begins with a reevaluation of what is worthy. Even someone with depression and body image problems loves themselves. If they didn't they wouldn't be so focused on what they hate about themselves.

Let me explain. I had a 1989 Chevy Camaro IROC Z-28 with T-tops when I was a senior in High School. I loved that car. It was the greatest car I had ever own. But it leaked in the trunk. The seal on the back was bad and it would leak and actually destroyed some text books I had in High School. It also was really loud because the seals on the doors were bad and the t-tops whistled. I love the car, but I also hated it because of it's imperfections.

We're like that.

Despite all it’s imperfections I wouldn't have traded that car for the world. It was my joy, until someone totaled it when they rear-ended me.

We love ourselves...even when we hate ourselves. But Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, our achievements, our victories and lay them at his feet.

Jesus is calling us to as Paul says:

Philippians 3:7 ESV

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Look at your life. When you see your life, are you living a life of counting all things as loss?

Worship Requires that I Die Daily (8)

The Christian life is a series of little deaths. It's moment by moment deciding to die to self. It's a million little battles that go on constantly in our hearts and minds for supremacy of me.

Following Christ means every day my pride, my need to feed my ego, my future, my need for security, safety, all of it, must be killed. And it's not just a day by day decision. It's a second by second war that wages between my will and Christ's purposes for my life.

Will I give in to that sinful desire? Will I study the word today? Will I pray about that? Will I go to church?

Each of these are the front lines of the daily war for our hearts.

The miniseries Band of Brothers is the story of Easy Company, a U.S. Army Airbourne Paratrooper division, and their World War II operations in Europe. The miniseries was based on historian Stephen Ambrose's nonfiction book.

In episode six, Easy Company is surrounded, cold, and short on ammunition and winter gear near the Belgian town of Bastogne, a crucial position in the Allied defensive line during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 to January 1945).

Eugene Roe, one of three company medics, is scuttling to save lives—scrounging for morphine, scissors, and bandages. While Easy Company is dug in and holding the front line, Roe discovers Joe Toye sitting in his foxhole with his boots off in the dead of winter. Roe looks at Joe's limp, discolored, and frostbitten feet and tells Joe that he could get gangrene and lose them.

In this condition, Joe could have been taken off the front line to a warm bed, but instead he looks cold-eyed at Roe and says, "I ain't coming off the line, Doc."

Toye later lost his right leg when he was hit by a barrage of enemy fire while shouting for the men in his company to take cover in their foxholes. Toye was awarded the Silver Star for his service.

Too many times we, unlike Joe Toye, leave the battlefield too soon. When the battle gets tough we give in, we surrender to sin. We think, “It’s too tough to do this.”

But Christ is calling us to do this. So what does it look like?

Dying Daily Means Surrender

If we’re going to deny ourselves that means we must surrender to God. This means we do the things he says to do. Basic Spiritual disciplines.

Prayer, fastings, scripture memorization, bible study, worship attendance, these are the basic spiritual disciplines of the Christian life.

Arthur Pink wrote, “Growth in grace is growth downward; it is the forming of a lower estimate of ourselves; it is a deepening realization of our nothingness; it is a heartfelt recognition that we are not worthy of the least of God’s mercies.”

Dying Daily Requires Service

Finally, true denial requires service. The disciples were all individually called, and they left family, friends, and occupations to follow Jesus. Jesus is calling you to a life of loyal obedience and service. He made the terms clear: if you don’t deny ourselves and carry our cross and follow Jesus, you cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:27).

There is no such thing as a no-cost, no-sacrifice form of discipleship. The hymnist wrote, “Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.”

We are called to serve in Christ’s kingdom.

Are you Jesus’ disciple today?