Pressing on towards the Celestial City

Philippians  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  57:21
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In the heart of a once-thriving city,
shadows lengthened over the cobblestone streets,
as decay whispered through alleys and lingered in the air.
And yet, no one seemed to notice.
But amidst the decay and decline that now gripped every corner,
one man became overwhelmed with a growing unease
a certainty that time was running short for the city and all who lived in it.
And so the man packed up his belongings,
leaving behind the comforts and distractions that had anchored him to this decaying place,
and set out upon his pilgrimage.
Along the way, he encountered diverse souls who would prove to either help or hindered his journey.
One man he met - who’s name was Evangelist,
was a man of unwavering faith and profound wisdom,
who appeared just as Christian departed from the decaying city.
Evangelist told him about the perils of his city that he now fled,
An city he called, The City of Destruction
And how their was only one path - a narrow path - which led to eternal life in a city called the Celestial City.
Evangelist then gave him a scroll
inscribed with words of guidance and encouragement,
that would help him persevere through the trials and tribulations that lie ahead.
And so filled with renewed purpose and resolve,
he bid Evangelist fairwell,
and set forth on his pilgrimage,
Along the way, he encountered two other men,
the first who’s name was Obstinate
Who came to scoff and ridicule him for leaving the comforts of the city behind.
The second man, who’s name Pliable,
was a much more agreeable companion,
who initially shared his enthusiasm for the journey.
but eventually abandoned him when times got tough
and returned to the familiarity of the City of Destruction.
He also met a man named “Mr. Worldly wise-man”
Who tempted him by suggesting he take an easier path to happiness and salvation,
that was free from hardship and sacrifice.
But in all of this,
the man continued on his perilous journey,
resolved to reach the city Evangelist had told him of.
And so he then pressed on,
Until he came to face the thick mire of the Slough of Despond,
Where struggled and began sinking deeper and deeper into the swamps murky depths,
Until, he was saved by a timely hand that reached out to pull him to safety.
He continued on, until he then met another traveler named Faithful,
who joined him in his journey to the Celestial city.
As they traveled,
Faithful proved to be a steadfast companion,
sharing his resolve to stay true to their path despite hardships.
That is,
until they came to a place called VANITY FAIR,
Where tragically,
Faithful was burned alive for opposing the people’s wicked living.
Saddened by the loss of his friend,
he journeyed onward.
Eventually though, he found himself struggling to carry on under the weight of his burden,
which grew heavier with each step he made toward’s the Celestial city,
Showing that his moralistic efforts to reach it would prove incapable!
But then,
he came upon a place where his burden,
a symbol of sin,
finally fell away.
And that place was at the foot of the cross.
Finally freed from the every-growing weight of his sin,
The man - who’s name was Christian, continued onward,
Until he finally did complete his journey
by reaching the magnificient celestial city,
Where he experienced joyous living beyond what he had ever even dreamed of.
The story of Pilgrim’s progress,
Is an amazing Christian allegory that brilliantly illustrates the challenges of the Christian life.
in fact, it’s a story that the author, John Bunyan,
a baptist preacher,
wrote from prison in 1684,
after being arrested for preaching the gospel!
It’s a wonderful story written by a wonderful Christian man.
But…. the reason I’m telling about his story this morning,
isn’t because I want you all to go and read his book,
Though you should.
it’s because it powerfully illustrates for us the challenges that the apostle Paul describes for us in our passage this morning,
As we saw last week from Philippians chapter 2,
The Apostle Paul is encouraging us to PRESS ON!
He’s encouraging us to press on in our spiritual pilgrimage,
away from the city of destruction,
And towards The Celestial City.
Because if we do not,
We will face certain, everlasting destruction.
And so in our passage this morning,
He encourages us to press on by looking to 3 things.
And here they are:
To press on towards The Celestial City, we must keep our eyes on:
Little-Christs (v. 17)
Anti-Christs (v. 18-19)
Christ (v. 20-21).
Philippians 3:17 ESV
17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
Here Paul is telling us that a big part of reaching the Celestial City
is keeping our eyes fixed upon our fellow Pilgrims who are doing well in their own journey towards this city.
Which is really helpful,
Because they provide a vivid, real life example for what we should imitate in our own journey.
Sure - we want to follow Christ’s example,
But there’s a challenge we face by solely looking to Christ,
And that challenge is, that unlike us, Christ never failed!
He never sinned!
So yes, we absolutely can and must look to Christ as the ultimate positive example of what we should be aiming for in our Christian journey,
But we also need to see examples of what it looks like when Godly men and women fail.
When they fall and stumble.
Because when they do, not if, what does a good and godly Christian man or woman do?
They do what Proverbs 24:16 says:
Proverbs 24:16 ESV
16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
With Christ, we see perfect humility, love, mercy, and grace,
But we don’t see that played out in failure,
Only in perfection.
And I don’t know about you,
But some of the most powerful Christians who have impacted me in my life are those who live out the gospel even in their failures!
When they fail, they don’t make excuses,
They don’t blame shift or pretend like it didn’t happen,
instead, they humble themselves at the foot of the cross,
By completely owning their sin in a Psalm 51 kind of way,
By confessing it, and then asking you for forgiveness when they sin against you!
It’s a power example that helps us see what it looks like to repent in a gospel-like manner!
And so we need godly examples like this in our lives.
Sinners who are saved by grace,
Who show us what is looks like to live and act in graciously in the face of both their successes and their failures!
And if you don’t have Christian leaders like that in your life,
You’re going to struggle to press on!
Now, at the same time,
Our godly examples have to be godly.
They can’t be an ungodly person who falls 700 times every day, in every sort of way,
Which is why they must be people who have reached some level of sanctifying success in their pilgrimage to become Christ-like.
And the Apostle Paul absolutely fits that description.
As does Timothy and Ephraphoditus,
Which Paul spoke of in Philippians chapter 2.
And so if we are going to make this Pilgrimage to the Celestial City, we need men and women like this in our lives.
it is a vital necessity!
So how about you?
Do you have people like this in your life?
And I’m not talking about that really good Christian author or that popular TV preacher,
I’m talking about someone you actually know.
Someone who you regularly see in flesh and blood,
Who you can imitate and follow?
Because if you don’t,
You’re asking for serious trouble!
And just as a reminder of this truth, I point you to Psalm 1, which speaks of the blessed man and and cursed man.
And who is the blessed man?
He’s the one who has GODLY influences in their life.
Instead of ungodly influences.
Look, despite what our culture tells us,
We are all largely the product of our social influences.
We absolutely are.
Because not only does the Bible tell us this over and over again,
But any Christian who’s reached any level of success in their Pilgrimage of becoming Christ-like,
Will tell you that they couldn’t have reached it without other Christian influencers who helped them get there.
When I was at my church in the cities,
I remember our Associate pastor told us the story of how he came to realize this truth when we he was younger,
And so he went to pastor Craig and basically said: “Ya know, I’ve been looking at your godly life, and I think I wanna like you when I grow up!”
And he then asked Craig if they could find time simply for him to be around him.
If Craig was changing his tires - he’d be there
If Craig was going for a walk - he wanted to come too.
he basically shadowed Craig, hoping to learn from his godly example as much as he could,
SO HE COULD IMITATE!
Yes, he had the Bible,
Yes, he had Christ’s example,
But he realized he needed more than that.
He realized he needed godly Christians in his life who he could watch closely and learn from!
And you know what.
After hearing his story,
I eventually came the same conclusion.
And so years later, I went to Craig and said the same thing,
And so we started meeting regularly for coffee to discuss faith, life, and godliness.
And to this very day, I’m eternally grateful for that powerful influence in my life!
In fact,
When Becky and I moved from the Twin Cities back up north here to begin pastoring,
I went to Craig and told him: “Craig, I learned a lot from seminary. But I learned even more from your godly example as a Christian pastor who loved his church and shepherded them in a Christ-like way.”
And I praise God that there are so many other people He sovereignly brought into my life who showed me what it was to imitate Christ.
From my dad,
To Craig,
To my good friend Dave who’s godly example of parenting was so remarkable,
That even before Becky and I started having children,
I went to him and asked him, “Dave, when I finally have kids, would it be alright if I called you all the time so you could tell me how to do it?”
And thankfully he agreed!
And to this day, I tremble at the thought of what things would have looked like if I hadn’t had those godly examples in my life.
We cannot underestimate the power of godly examples in our lives,
And if we don’t have their influence in our lives,
We are going to run into SERIOUS problems in our Christian pilgrimage.
Think about it - what if Christian hadn’t met Evangelist right away as he left the City of Destruction?
What if he never received Evangelists godly wisdom and instructions?
Or what if he never received that helping hand in the Slough of Despond,
He’d have been in some serious trouble.
And so we must do what Paul calls us to do here in verse 17,
Which is to have godly people in our lives who we can seek to imitate,
And we can’t do that if we don’t have them in our lives,
Nor if we don’t look to them on a regular basis.
And one more thing here before we move on.
If you’re going to seek out godly examples from sinners saved by grace,
This will only work through a lens of grace!
You have to remember that they too are sinners saved by grace,
Which means they will stumble at times,
They will fall - but what do they do?
They get back up again!
Don’t you remember what Paul just told us a few verses earlier?
He told us that If you’re alive, you haven’t arrived!
Which included himself
And if you’re looking for someone who has arrived - someone who is sinless,
You are NOT going to find them!
Everyone needs godly Christians in the lives to look to to imitate.
Even if you’re one of the godly people that other people look to.
And if you think you’ve arrived and don’t need it.
Well then...
As ole saying goes: “Pride comes before the fall.”
To press on towards The Celestial City, we must keep our eyes on:
Little-Christs (v. 17)
Anti-Christs (v. 18-19)
Philippians 3:18–19 ESV
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
o press on towards The Celestial City, we must keep our eyes on:
Little-Christs (v. 17)
Anti-Christs (v. 18-19)
OK, so first off,
Who is Paul calling enemies of the cross of Christ?
It’s not the pagan Romans who have imprisoned Paul,
It’s not the pagans who worship false gods,
No!
These are people who claim to be Christians
People who claim to be brothers and sisters in Christ.
And we have two options for who Paul is speaking of here.
It’s either legalists or libertines.
And yes, I’m going to tell you what those are.
So the Legalists are the people Paul warned us about back in verse 2, when he said:
Philippians 3:2 ESV
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
These people are the Judaizers.
Which were a group of people who believed that Jesus was God in the flesh,
They believed He died on the cross and rose again from the grave,
But they also believed something else which made them an immense danger to the Christian faith,
And what they basically believed was Jesus + works.
And the works they were trying to require were circumcision and the law of Moses.
Which for the Apostle Paul was an absolute DEAL breaker!
Because as he says in Galatians 1 verse 8,
Galatians 1:8 ESV
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Do you know what Paul is saying here?
He’s saying, if you add anything to the gospel - even circumcision,
You’re preaching ANOTHER GOSPEL!
And if someone comes to you and preaches that, Paul says:
Let them be accursed!
Let them be DAMNED TO HELL he says.
And he’s not cussing when he says that!
Because that’s the God-honest truth about Faith +
For anything you add to faith nullifies faith and the cross of Christ!
You can’t sing “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe,”
instead, you end up singing: “Jesus paid it most, - some to Him I owe.”
Which not only makes for a terrible song,
But it makes for terrible damning theology!
Alright, so that’s the first group that Paul might be warning of,
But there’s a second group - and I actually think this is the group Paul’s warning us about,
And it’s the libertines - or the cheap gracers.
These are the born again types who’s focus in on just “saying the prayer” and you’re good to go
You’ve got your fire insurance, and that’s all that ultimately matters!
And these people drive me absolute nuts,
But that’s perfectly alright - because I’m in good company here - because they drove Paul nuts too.
So let’s dig into this a bit.
So in verse 19, Paul tells us 3 things about these people,
He says: “Their god is their belly” - or “their appetites” as some translations put it.
He says they glory in their shame
And they have their minds set on earthly things
Now the word Paul uses that often gets translated as “belly” or “appetites,”
And the Greek word Paul uses here is “κοιλία” (koilia,)
Which yes, it can mean belly and appetite,
But it also is one that commonly means the lower abdomen area, which includes and can refer to the sexual organs.
Now here’s Paul’s point if he’s addressing the libertines - the antinomians, or the anti-law people.
He’s saying their god is their physical appetites
That’s what rules them.
Which is why they glory in their shame
and what word shame is often used to describe nakedness and the shame that is associated there.
And this results in their mind being set on earthly things, not heavenly things.
But overall, the idea is someone who is driven by their appetites - or their affections.
Which includes being driven by ungodly sexual appetites,
Or by ungodly gluttonous appetites, where the person looks to food in a gluttonous and shameful way,
Or any other sort of physical drives.
The point is, they are earthly driven in a sinful and ungodly way and do not serve Christ!
For they are the enemies of Christ.
Similarly in Romans 16, Paul addresses these kind of people, saying:
Romans 16:18 ESV
18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
So back to our passage in Philippians.
Yes, Paul could be referring to the Judaizers and by bellys he’s talking about the sexual organs in regard to circumcision,
Which I don’t think he is...
But either way, it doesn’t make a world of difference whether Paul has the legalist or libertines in mind here.
Because both are making the same core error,
But it’s resulting in different deadly spiritual behaviors and beliefs.
Here’s what I mean:
The legalist is saying the Gospel PLUS
and the libertine is saying the Gospel MINUS
But both of them are taking away from the gospel and the cross of Christ.
The one is adding works to it,
And the other subtracting the work that results from it.
What do I mean by subtracting the work that results from it?
I mean what James means when he says that faith without works is dead!
And what Paul means in Romans 6 when he says that have been crucified with Christ and have been raised to NEW LIFE.
And where their is no signs of new life,
The rightful conclusion is their is no life.
The idea of a carnal Christian is the most oxymoronic statement there is...
It doesn’t go together!
But even though the terms carnal and Christian DO NOT FIT TOGETHER
Doesn’t mean we want to crank the wheel too hard away from that ditch,
lest we end up in the other ditch of legalism.
Because it ultimately doesn’t matter if you drive spiritually into the left ditch or the right ditch,
You’re still in the ditch!
and the ditch will damn you Paul says!
That’s exactly what Paul tells us in verse 19…
He says their end is destruction!
And he’s not talking about works burning up but the soul being saved,
Oh no - here he’s saying it results in eternal, never-ending destruction of the soul under the wrath of God in a place called hell.
That’s how serious these errors are!
And Paul has gone at great lengths already in the book of Philippians to warn us about them.
Because both legalism and libertinism will result in your soul being eternally damned to hell.
Look whatever sinful appetite is driving you,
Whether it’s an ungodly sexual appetite,
or an ungodly physical glutinous appetite for food
or an ungodly materialistic, greedy appetite for things,
It makes no difference, for apart from the cross of Christ it will destroy your soul!
So kill it before it kills you!
And don’t you dare embrace the legalist method of killing it through your own moralistic efforts.
For if you try, like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress,
The burden of your sin you carry will ever grow larger until it crushes you!
For you cannot make the journey to the Celestial city without having your burden of sin removed at the cross of Christ!
And so whether you’re a legalist who is fighting your sin through earthly ways,
Or you’re a libertine who is embracing your sin in earthly ways,
Heed Paul’s words and stop being an enemy of the cross of Christ.
Instead, by faith look to the cross and cast all of your deadly doings down!
Whether those be moralistic doings,
Or Hedonistic, sinful pleasure doings.
The Apostle Paul is telling us here to do something that isn’t popular in our culture,
Which is to watch out and warn others of the enemies of the cross of Christ.
And yet, if you try to do that today,
there’s a whole lot of Christians who will tell you that you’re not being very loving or Christ-like.
That you’re being a judgmental jerk for Jesus,
And so instead of pointing error out,
instead we should just point out the truth.
Because, as the 11th commandment says: “Thou shalt be nice.”
OK, first off - there isn’t an 11th commandment,
And we aren’t called to be “nice,”
We are called to be loving.
And love speaks the truth,
But it does it in a loving way!
And what the loving way looks like is described for us in verse 18.
Philippians 3:18 ESV
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Do you see that?
Paul doesn’t say, I tell you of these enemies with anger,
Or I tell you of these enemies with pride and arrogance,
No, he says I tell you of them even with tears in my ears...
And that’s because Paul cares for these people and longs to see them turned from enemies of the cross,
To friends of the cross.
He longs to see them saved and spared from the coming wrath of God,
But looking to Christ alone.
Not law,
Nor cheap grace licentuous libertinism.
To press on towards The Celestial City, we must keep our eyes on:
Little-Christs (v. 17)
Anti-Christs (v. 18-19)
Christ (v. 20-21).
Philippians 3:20–21 ESV
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Here is Paul is reminding the Philippians Christians of a concept they understood all too well,
which was that even though Philippi was hundred miles away from Rome,
They were under its law and rule,
And were to live as citizens of Rome.
And the same is true for us as Christians.
For we too are citizens living in a land far away from heaven - that great celestial city,
But we right now await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who is coming in POWER and GLORY!
And when He does,
He will transform our lowly bodies to BE JUST LIKE HIS GLORIOUS BODY!
And He’ll do it with the same power that enables him to subject all things to Himself.
And so don’t you see legalist,
that you’re relying on a power that simply isn’t up to the job and is vastly inferior to Christ’s resurrecting power!?
Don’t see you see libertine
that you’re neglecting His saving power,
and the proof of that is in the powerless life you live as you’re completely dominated by your sinful fleshly appetites?
Do you see now that the Legalist and the Libertine desperately need Christ’s mighty power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself,
And both of them need that power at work right now in their life,
So that it will complete that work when He returns?
For when He does,
He will use that mighty power to transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body!
And this is all made possible because of the cross.
Have you come to the foot of the cross?
Have you cast all of your deadly doings down?
Whether those be self-righteous doings
or unrighteous doings?
For both must be repented of at the foot of the cross,
lest you be an enemy of the cross.
After Christian came to cross and the burden of his sin rolled away,
Bunyan tells us that Christian gave 3 leaps for joy before he went on singing.
And I close us today with the words he sang.
Thus far did I come laden with my sin, Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in, Till I came hither. What a place is this! Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be The Man that there was put to shame for me!
By God’s grace through faith in this blessed man, may we all here be friends of the cross.
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