Have Faith in the Lord Always

Sermon

We are beginning a new sermon series this week entitled “Always.” We will be looking at ways that we can stay connected to God and the ways that we express that connection to those around us. Are connection with God begins with faith so we are beginning this series by remembering we need to “Have Faith in the Lord Always.”

The scripture for today scripture comes from Philippians 3:4-14. The words will be on the screen.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Please pray with me…

Paul who is the writer of this letter to the church in Philippi is considered to be one of the greatest men of the Christian faith. He suffered during much of his time as a believer through beatings and imprisonment. But he seemed to never lose his faith.

Philippians 1 beginning in verse 12 shows us how Paul’s faith in God impacted his outlook on life. He says “12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.”

It is important that as we look at the words Paul has given us today to remember that this is a man who is imprisoned. But yethe speaks of spreading the Gospel to those around him including those guarding him. Our text today has him pointing out that no one is good enough to deserve to be a Christian. It is a gift given to us by God.

One aspect of Paul’s writings that I have personally struggled with is where he spouts off on how good he is. In today’s text he is making the case that no Jewish person should believe that they are good enough without Jesus because after all Paul realized he was not good enough.

We canget so wrapped up in our belief and in the ways that we live our lives that we can end up believing that we are good enough. We can focus on living a life pleasing to God and can end up believing that our life would be considered the type of life that God would want us to live.

It reminds me of the story of the rich man who came to Jesus. He asked about eternal life and Jesus gave him an answer that made him believe he was good enough. But Jesus continued until he reached an area of the man’s life that led the man to walk away.

We cannever be good enough. We can never deserve the grace given to us by God. We will always have blind spots that need to be changed in order for us to be able to become closer to God. Our faith journey is similar in some ways to the Jewish people following the law.

We maybe good in one area but if we are failing to follow God the way that God desires for us to follow him in even one aspect of our life than we have fallen short. It is at these times that we have to have the faith to believe that we are saved because we have a God that loves us and wants to be on our journey of faith with us.

Paul doesn’t brag because he thinks he is good enough. Paul wants to point out to those that are Jewish in his audience that they are going to struggle to match his resume when it comes to following God. Therefore,if they can’t match his resume they should realize they are not good enough.

He begins by pointing out his heritage. He wants those reading to know that he is of one of the twelve tribes. He is not an outsider in the Jewish faith. He is of a long line of people who were followers of God.

He is a Pharisee. He is pointing out that not only is he Jewish by heritage, but he also belonged to the religious group that attempted to follow the law most closely. He was not someone who just relied on his heritage to be among God’s chosen people. He attempted to follow the laws established by God for the Jewish people.

Before hebecame a follower of Jesus, he was a persecutor of the church. How muchdid Paul not believe in Jesus as the Messiah? Enough to work against those who were spreading the word that he was the Messiah. In fact, that was what he was doing just before he became a follower of Jesus.

Paul alsosays that he considers himself blameless under the law. He believes that he followed the law as well as expected by God. He kept the law and attempted to live out the law as well as anyone could.

But whathe recognizes now is that it is impossible to do enough to be right with God without having a relationship with God through Jesus. Life with Jesus is so much better than life under the law. It is no longer about what he can do it is about what Jesus has done for him.

That is what faith is about. It is about us trusting God to be our Lord, the one we are to follow. It is about us believing that he will always walk beside us through the good and the bad of life. It is aboutus being willing to no longer focus on ourselves but to focus on what God desires for us to do for him and for those around us.

Paul counts his heritage, his willingness to follow the law, his persecution of others, his belief that he was good enough as now being of no worth. He says that he counts them all as rubbish. Worthless parts of his life that he can throw away.

We haveall made mistakes in our lives. We have all done things that we are not proud of. The problem that we can face both as humans and/or as a follower of Jesus is a willingness to release ourselves from the guilt and shame associated with the error of our ways.

Humans loveto not only heap guilt and shame on others, but we also seem to enjoy adding guilt and shame onto our own lives. We struggle with believing that we are good enough. We doubt that we are worthy of the love that God wants to offer to us.

There isnothing that we can do that God will not forgive. It takes keeping the faith or beginning a faith journey with God to believe that we are good enough. We have a God that is willing to forgive and forget all the mistakes we have made towards him and towards those around us including those mistakes that we will make in the future.

What Pauldoes count as important is his faith in God and the righteousness that comes through that faith. Righteousness is being right with God. It meansthat we are not lacking in our ability to interact with God because our sins against God and humanity have been removed.

Jesus paidthe price for our sins. He died so that we could be right with God. He suffered for us so that we no longer have to suffer under the weight of our sins. He followed the will of his father so that we could be saved from the power of sin.

God desires to forgive you. He wants to help you remove the weight that you have piled upon yourself, and he wants you to choose to believe that you can or are forgiven. You are good enough to receive the forgiving grace of God.

A lifethat involves having faith in the Lord does not always mean that we are not going to face pain and hardships. Living a faith-filled life does not mean that we will get to go through life without feeling at times like we have everyone against us.

Paul believes that the suffering and hardships we face is a part of the human condition. No one who has walked the earth has not faced hardships of some kind and that incudes Jesus. No one is excluded from the aches and pains of what it is like to be human.

But Jesus not only faced the pain, but he also overcame death. He was resurrected from the dead. He was brought back to life after facing death. He becomes our example of what God does for us. We areable to be resurrected from the agony and the loneliness that we had faced when we were lost. When we were without Jesus.

We cannow have hope. We now can feel the love of Jesus in our lives. We no longer need to be lonely because we now have someone in our lives that will never leave us. Our human relationships may fail, but God will never forget about us and will always be willing to walk beside us.

What we also need to remember is that as people have faith in the Lord that faith may be different for them than the way that we live out our faith. We have to be open to the way those around us express their love for God different than ourselves.

Our first reading has the Pharisees asking Jesus a question concerning the traditions that they followed. These traditions they are speaking of were not God given traditions but were aspects of faith added on by the Pharisees that they expected others to also follow.

We cansometimes find ourselves questioning how others worship or how others live out their faith. God wants us to focus on our faith journey and not on the faith journey of those around us unless we are looking towards others to allow us to grow closer to him.

There aremany expressions of the Christian faith in the world today. That is why we have so many denominations around the world. We should focus on discovering how God desires for us to believe and follow him instead of worrying about those around us.

Paul endsthis section of scripture speaking of pressing on and straining forward. Paul knows that he has not yet arrived. His faith is not perfected. Just like our faith is also not perfected. We are living out our faith best when we are spending time with God.

At Kirkersville we desire to help you form your belief, develop your understanding of God and then find ways for each of us to go out into our communities. We should attempt to live out our mission statement every day.

We become formed through worshipping together and spending time with God in worship either in person or online. We get to connect with God and focus only on God for at least this hour a week.

We alsooffer devotionals either by pamphlet or online. These devotionals allow you to connect with God each day and form a greater understanding of how God is at work in your life. There is also praying to God daily so that you can speak to and listen to how God’s desires for you to live and to grow closer to him.

We offer Sunday school and Bible studies to give you the possibility to receive a greater understanding of the word of God. This canallow you through our study and discussions to develop a greater understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

We alsogive opportunities for us to serve our communities through our produce distribution, community meals, parties, and movie nights. We are showing the love of God to those around us when we serve those around us.

Our faith journeys can help us let others know about the love that Jesus has for them. Each one of us has lived our lives differently. Each one of us has had our own struggles in life that may allow someone to relate to our story.

Our faith journeys are also unique. Some may have had a relationship with Jesus early on and never really wavered from that faith. You can become an example of what it means to trust God always.

Others ofus may have a rollercoaster faith journey. Our faith was up and down. We sometimes had a strong belief and other times doubted God. We canshow people that it is Ok to have doubts and still believe.

There maybe some that had to go down almost into a pit until you realized what you needed in your life. You can witness to others that it doesn’t matter how low you go Jesus is always willing to pull you out and be in a relationship with you.

These arejust three ways to look at your faith journey. Yours may be slightly different but no matter what you have gone through in life you are able to share how a relationship with God has impacted you.

So, let us find ways to allow us to become closer to God each and every day. Let us remember during the bad times that God will never leave us and will walk with us through both the bad and good times. Let us remember to have faith in the Lord always.

Please pray with me…