Living with a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ and His church, Dr. Keith currently is the pastor at Riverview Baptist Church in Washington, NC. For seven wonderful years he was married to Dr. Anna Hudson (30), who passed away after a battle with cancer.
Dr. Keith received his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological.
“Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”” (Genesis 22:1–14, NASB95)
CPT: Abraham trusted God and was courageous in faith.
CPS: You must trust God and be courageous in faith.
Question: How can you be courageous in faith?
Me
This past Wednesday night, I sat in front of the TV watching my Duke Blue Devils lose their lead they gained during the first part of the first half and trailing by 10 with about two minutes to play, Duke went on a 10-2 run that cut No. 5 North Carolina’s lead to 84-82 with 14 seconds to play. Then as the final shot was in the air as the last second expired one sound was heard, SWISH.
I must be completely honest, I didn’t think Duke was going to be able to come back with them down by 13 points with 15 minutes remaining. Duke is my team I have pulled for since I was a young child and I must admit that I truly expected a loss as they played at UNC.
I did not have faith.
We
What about you, what situation have you been in that you lacked faith in the outcome? Was it a sporting event like the one I just spoke of? Was it was far more serious and the situation involved the fate of a marriage or the health of a friend?
What are the situations we lack faith? Why did you lack faith? What is it that you put your faith in?
This morning as we dive into the Bible we are going to discover that we can live with a courageous faith.
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about living a courageous faith.
God
We read in our Bibles this morning in Genesis 22:1-14.
Genesis 22 in Jewish tradition is known as the ‘Akedah’ meaning “the binding”. As we read our text the reason for this will become apparent.
This passage is the culmination of Abraham’s faithfulness to God. He started off with the call at Haran to leave his circle of security and move toward the future promises of God. Now God is requiring that Abraham relinquish the future by offering Isaac.
Read and Discuss Genesis 22:1-14
Emphasis on “your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac.
Moriah- This is where the Temple will be built while Solomon reigned as king.
Beersheba to Moriah- a 3 plus day journey
Isaac is not a young child but a young adolescent or young man- able to hold all
the wood.
Isaac’s willingness
Abraham, Abraham!- Said in urgency by the Lord.
The Ram- Not their by coincidence but provided by the Lord
You
How can you be courageous in faith?
Know that a testing of your faith will come (1-2).
First we must know that the Lord does not tempt us but there are times that he will test our faithfulness.
James 1:13- “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:13, NASB95)
What is the difference?
A temptation is an enticement to do evil.
For instance if someone told you that you can avoid paying for your meal by just getting up during the hustle and bustle of the lunch rush and leaving. They will never even realize that you didn’t pay. This is an enticement to steal.
A test is a means of revealing obedience.
With Valentine’s Day just a couple of days ways a test could be like your loved one testing your love for them.
A test could be like in Boy Scouts we would send the younger scouts on a goose chase for a left-handed smoke shifter to make the smoke drift in a certain direction. Now this wasn’t all that nice but we didn’t entice them toward evil. We simply wanted to see if they would do it and be obedient.
While these test may not be fun they are meant to strengthen us in our faith.
James 1:2-4- “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, NASB95)
Here is the reality. We grow far more and rely far more on the Lord when we are in the valley than when we are on the peaks of life.
Be courageous even when your faith is tested.
Let your faith be so courageous in your faith that you respond immediately (3-4).
When the Lord speaks we need to react immediately and with urgency.
Notice with me in verse 3 where ‘Abraham arose early in the morning’. He didn’t do this to avoid what Sarah would say. He didn’t do this a week later but immediately the next day when it was more suitable to travel. There is little doubt that he thought about his long and hard over that night and over then next few days as they traveled. While this may be the case I want you to see that Abraham was so courageous in his faith that he responded immediately. In the same way you need to be so courageous in your faith that you respond immediately.
Be courageous in your faith.
Let your faith be a confident courageous faith (5-8).
Abraham was so confident in the sufficiency of the Lord that notice with me what he says in verse 5 “we will worship and return to you,” and verse 8 “God will provide for Himself the Lamb for the burnt offering.”
Hebrews 11:17-19- “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” (Hebrews 11:17–19, NASB95)
Whether Abraham believed that the Lord would provide a Lamb or that He would raise Isaac from the dead, we know that Abraham had a confident courageous faith.
You also need to have a confident courageous faith. When God says it believe it with confidence. God is faithful and you can rest in His promises.
Be courageous in your faith.
Let your faith be courageous because the Lord will provide (12-14).
Abraham had mentioned that he had faith that the Lord would provide, and the Lord did provide. He provided a ram not there by coincidence but provided by the Lord.
I want you to know my friend that whatever the situation you may find yourself in, the Lord will provide.
Maybe you find yourself without a job. The Lord will provide ways to meet your needs. This may come in the form of odd jobs or that unexpected check in the mail. Either way know that you can be courageous in your faith because the Lord will provide.
We
Imagine with me if we lived a courageous faith like Abraham? We could actually take God as His and not just speak about taking God’s at His word. We could actually fulfill our God given purpose. We would live with the assurance that the Giver is greater than the gift. We could replace our fear with faith.
So I ask you, “Are we being courageous in our faith?” If not, why? What keeps you from being courageous in your faith?
LIVE A COURAGEOUS FAITH!!!!
Maybe you have not began your journey of faith with Jesus Christ. I want to challenge you to do that this morning. The Bible tells us that none of us are perfect and that we all have rebelled against God. Because we are not perfect and have all rebelled against God we all rightfully deserve to be eternally damned.
But do you remember in our passage that the Lord did provide a ram for the sacrifice instead of Isaac. This is the first reference in the Bible to a substitutionary sacrifice. The ram substituted for Isaac. In the same way Jesus Christ came into this world to be sacrificed on the cross as our substitute, to take the penalty and the damnation we rightfully deserve. Will you come to a point today of realizing your rebellion, turning away from that rebellion and turning to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
For the next several weeks I am going to be reposting some blog post I wrote shortly after my beloved wife’s death. As I repost these I am also going to be doing some revisions especially now that it has been nearly a year and a half since her death. You can find the original post along with her writing on her battle with cancer here.
This is a message I have used at a couple of different places, once to a whole church and the other to a men’s breakfast group. I figure this is a good place to start with in that it will give you much of the back story. Additionally, while I may not have Anna with me today, I still want to encourage you to have a marriage characterized as strong, healthy, and no would’ve, should’ve, or could’ve marriage. I pray that this story and message will be an encouragement to many people in their marriage.
The Love of a Husband
Ephesians 5:25-33
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.” (Ephesians 5:25–33, NASB95)
CPT: As Christ loves the church so husbands should love their wives.
CPS: As Christ loves the church so husbands should love their wives.
Question: How should husbands love their wives?
Introduction/Testimony
I have done much thinking on the subject of a husband’s love over the past year and a half. Thinking about what this love is to look like. Thinking about the depth of this love. You see this is a topic I have had to deal with over the past year and a half. A topic that I have been forced to wrestle with. Friends, the topic of husbands and wives and families is such an important message for today.
While I realize that many of you have been married for several decades, I do not believe we have to belabor the fact of the poor state of the marriage relationship today. Maybe you find yourself in a wonderful marriage relationship, yet it will not take you long to think of more than a few rocky and poor marriages among your children, neighbors, and co-workers. As a culture, we have lost sight for one reason or another of what makes a successful marriage. Marriages are crumbling around us and families are being shattered in the tidal wave of divorces. Something must be done to correct this epidemic problem of broken marriages and families.
I am convinced that a return to faith in Christ and biblical teaching is the solution to this critical problem. So tonight we are going to look at a pivotal puzzle piece in the stability of the marriage relationship: the Love of a Husband.
You look at me and see that I am a younger individual and ask what can I say to the topic of a love of a husband. While I may be on the younger side, unfortunately I have been thrown into a sink or swim situation. So let me share some of my story with you for just a moment then we will jump into the some biblical principles of a husbands love.
I figure the best place to start is just a real general statement and then proceed from the beginning. On September 18th 2010 11:45 a.m., my life was completely turned upside down and forever changed. Anna my wonderful wife of 7 years at the age 30 passed away due to cancer. A little less than a year before in October 2009 Anna was diagnosed with two primary forms of cervical cancer. Questions began to swirl. We had far more questions than answers. Yet I never questioned my commitment and love for my wife. We struggled with what to do but the most logical choice was to proceed with radiation, chemotherapy, and internal radiation. We started this round of treatment the Monday after Thanksgiving 2009. This was a hard round, Anna lost down to 90 pounds, she wasn’t eating, and there was significant pain associated with the treatment. Those where 12 grueling weeks for Anna and I. She was all but bed ridden sleeping the vast majority of the day, weakened to the point of struggling to walk even short distances, and required around the clock care. Yet through this she came out the other side of the treatment in poor shape but in a place where she could recover.
In fact, she started to feel better, she was starting to eat, she was starting to get up and about, she started wanting to get out of the house on short errands, and she was even starting to think about when to re-enter her family medicine residency in which she was on medical leave. Things looked promising, things looked like they may be getting back to normal.
Six weeks later she has her PET scan to see if everything was gone, it wasn’t. The cancer was gone in her cervix, but had now spread to her lymph-node. The doctors again were confident that they could get the cancer with one more round of treatment, so that’s what we did.
Immediately, things started deteriorating. She stopped eating, she lost all the weight she had gained, and the pain returned. I don’t know what it was about this round, but this round was far worse than the first. A couple of weeks into the treatment she had to drop down from 5 treatments a week to 3 treatments a week. To complicate things further her bone marrow had become damaged and she began to need blood and blood products. Being the trooper and fighter she was, she made it through this round, but something was different. While we didn’t anticipate her to bounce back the next day, weeks went by and she wasn’t getting better. In fact she continued to deteriorate.
Her bone marrow was shot and she was getting blood or blood products 2-3 times a week. Her dad, a doctor, would draw her blood on Sunday night when I returned home from church and he would have it run and we would find out about an hour after he left. I remember cringing as I looked up at the clock as the telephone rang. There was never any good news. It was always bad news. Her platelet count was critical or her hemoglobin was getting horribly low. Depending on how critical it was we either had to go to the hospital that night or that next morning. Above and beyond this she was constantly getting infections and running temperatures of 103-104. With this came antibiotics, which lead to further weight loss, down to 82-83 pounds. She was a ghost of who she once was. She couldn’t eat, it was getting harder for her to move around the house, and she slept constantly.
To complicate matters her liver was failing. Her eyes and skin were yellow, your classic jaundice appearance. Her dad and I were very concerned, we knew she wasn’t getting better in fact we anticipated the worst, that she would die possibly in the next year. She is also having increasing pain in her back. She was suppose to have her follow-up six week PET scan but we had to cancel it because of all the complicating factors that where occurring.
She was constantly bleeding from her mouth around her gums. Then one day she mentions an area on the backside of her bottom front teeth. We don’t think it is anything, but to be on the safe side we have an oral surgeon take a look at it, September 7th. He thinks it is simply bad gums, it isn’t in the usual place for cancer, but he wants to biopsy it. We go the next morning to have the biopsy. After the biopsy the oral surgeon openly says that he believes it to be a bad case of gum disease. Now I know for an oral surgeon to tell you that you have gum disease that is bad news and has a way of ruining you day, but we were elated. With the possibility of it being cancer, gum disease was great news. It was the first piece of good news she and I had received in nearly a year and we were excited.
Thursday, September 9th, not a worry to be found about the biopsy, in fact I was proceeding as if were a normal day. At about 5pm I was heading to go and visit a couple in the church and my cell phone rings, it is my father-in-law. He has devastating news, the mass in her mouth that we thought was gum disease, is cancer. It is the same cancer that was in her cervical area. There is no question the cancer had spread all over her body. There is nothing we can do. My father-in-law asks me what I think should do? Anna had always said that while I had the final say she wanted her father and I to be in agreement. So I told him we needed to sit down with Anna that evening and tell her.
If you knew you had one maybe two weeks to live what would you do with the time? This is the question Anna and I were confronted with so we began making preliminary plans. She had always dreamed of having a renewal of our marriage vows at our 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, the hope of 10 years of marriage was shattered as we were in our 7th year, but she still wanted to do the renewal anyway. Plans were made and a date was set Thursday, September 16th. Those were hard plans to make because as the week progressed I saw how quickly she was deteriorating and I realized that with her determination to have this renewal that this would be her last hurrah. That Thursday night was absolutely wonderful. I do not know how she did it but she gathered all her strength and with assistance got dressed in a beautiful dress, put on make-up, and fixed her hair. We closed that time of renewal with a dance, something special that she had planed as a surprise to me. That was a special time that will always be remembered.
After the dance, she was assisted back into the room, crawled in the bed, and from that point on there was no more significant times with her awake and conscious. One of her wishes was that when she breathed her last that I would be holding her. Two days later on Saturday, September 18th I laid in the bed beside her holding her as her breathing became gasp and then her gasp stopped with her last breath at 11:45 AM.
Exposition
Read Ephesians 5:25-33-
Now before we dig into the particulars of this passage there is one initial observation that must be commented on. There is no mention of the husband’s authority, there is no focus on the husband’s authority but the husbands submission by love to his wife.
The second observation that will take up the remainder of our time this morning is the command given to the husband. Simply: “Husbands, love your wives.” The word used here for love is an imperative verb, something urgently important. The word used here of love is the highest form of love, even over the love between two friends, even over romantic love. What does this love look like? What does it mean for a husband to love his wife? How does this play out in real life?
We are going to take a look at the motivation for this love at the end of the sermon, but before we get there our passage gives us four descriptions of what this love for a wife looks like.
A Sacrificial Love (25b)
The first description we find in our passage is found at the end of verse 25. The love of a husband is a sacrificial love.
Reread verse 25b
A husband should love his wife in the way that Christ loves the church. How did Christ love the church? He gave Himself up for the church. He died for the church.
This stands in stark contrast to the love that the world tells husbands to have. The love the world tells men to have for their wives is a macho love, a love that is dedicated to himself, a love that asserts self first. We hear reports almost daily of husbands hitting their wife with their fist or open hand, and often this has been happening for years before many hear of it. We hear reports of husbands tearing down their wife with words of anger and hatred as they telling them that they are worthless. Men, let us stop right here. This cannot and must not happen. These acts of abuse on a wife is despicable and cowardice. If you or someone you know is treating their wife in such a way it must stop! If I am not already blunt enough let me say this, may the Lord deal with the husband who is abusive to their wife be it ever so severely. Personally, I would lose no sleep if the Lord were to strike him dead!
Yet, we have in this passage a radically different love. This love is a love that is focused on concern for his wife. This is a love that willingly gives of self; a sacrificial love.
Earlier this year on Saturday, January 8th our country was faced with a horrible event that will forever change the way we live and interact with government officials, and a day that will go down in history as a black mark. Yet it is also on this day that we see sacrificial love in action as 76-year-old Dorwan Stoddard died saving his wife, by covering her on the ground as the gunmen shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others at a street corner congressional outreach event.
Men, husbands how are you giving of yourself to your wife? How are you willing to give of yourself when it comes to your wants and desires? What are you doing to fulfill your wife’s needs and desires physically, emotionally, and spiritually? Would you be willing to give of yourself even to the point of death? In your attitude do you approach your marriage with a ‘me’ attitude or with the ‘other’ attitude?
Men, love your wife with a love that is self-sacrificial.
A Purifying Love (26-27)
The second description we find in our passage is found in verses 26-27. The love of a husband is a purifying love.
Look with me again at those two verses.
Reread 26-27.
We are given the command for the husband to love his wife in a way that is purifying and cleansing. A husband is to love their wife in such a way that there would be no blemish or wrinkle in the fabric of there personhood.
Love wants only the best for the one it loves, and it cannot bear for a loved one to be corrupted or misled by anything evil or harmful. When a husband’s love for his wife is like Christ’s love for His church, he will continually seek to help purify her from any sort of defilement. He will seek to protect her from the world’s contamination and protect her holiness, virtue, and purity in every way. He will never induce her to do that which is wrong or unwise or expose her to that which is less than good.
Husbands, what are you doing to help protect your wife from things that would defile her spiritually, emotionally, mentally, or physically? Are you leading your wife in a way that would lead to her toward spiritual growth and development? Would you say your influence in the life of your wife is spiritually positive or negative?
Men, love your wife with a love that is sanctifying.
A Caring Love (28-30)
The third description we find in our passage is found in verses 28-30. The love of a husband is a caring love.
Look with me at those verses.
Reread 28-30
We see in these verses that the husband is to love their wife with a love that is caring. To love them as if were their own person (proper exercise, diet, and rest). To love them with a love that is nourishing and cherishing.
The husband who loves his wife as Christ loves the church will no more do anything to harm her than he would to harm his own flesh. His desire is to nourish and cherish her just as he nourishes and cherishes his own body—because that is how Christ also does the church.
When she needs strength, he gives her strength. When she needs encouragement, he gives her that. And so with every other thing she needs. Philippians 4:19 states that God supplies all of our needs in Christ Jesus. Husbands you are to care for your wife in such a way that you seek to supply all of her needs. The blessed marriage is the marriage in which the husband loves his wife with unlimited caring and an unconditional love. Something is basically wrong if she is looked at only as a cook, housekeeper, occasional companion, and sex partner. She is a God–given treasure to be loved, cared for, nourished, and cherished.
To nourish a wife is to provide for her needs, to give that which helps her grow and mature in favor with God and man. To cherish her is to use tender love and physical affection to give her warmth, comfort, protection, and security. Those responsibilities are primarily the husband’s, not the wife’s. As Christ provides for His church, so the husband provides for his wife and family.
This nourishing and cherishing is not an either/or but a both/and. My hat goes off to the husband who works hard to provide the best he can for his family. Yet, please hear me, nourishing does not mean that you work yourself into the ground and create an environment where you are always absent from the home. In fact, I would warn you to guard against moving too far to the extreme. While meeting physical needs like food and shelter are essential, meeting emotional needs are just as essential. That is where the cherishing part comes in. Cherishing your wife is being there for your wife emotionally. Cherishing your wife means sitting down and truly listening to your wife without distraction. Cherishing your wife means seeking to understand their feelings and thoughts.
Men can you say you truly want the absolute best for your wife? How does your attitudes and actions demonstrate this? Have you ever heard your wife say you just don’t understand her? Have you ever stopped long enough to think about the reasoning for this? Do you regularly listen to and talk with your wife without interruption or distraction? Do you regularly go on dates with your wife? Do you seek to come along side of her to assist her in fulfilling her dreams and aspirations? What does your attitudes and actions reveal of your physical and emotional support of your wife?
Men, love your wife with a love that is a caring love.
An Unbreakable Love (31)
The fourth description we find in our passage is found in verse 31. The love of a husband is an unbreakable love.
Look with me at verse 31.
Reread verse 31.
We see in this verse, a direct quotation from Genesis 2:24, that the husband is to have a modification of relationship as they sever from their authority and from responsibilities as a child. As they do this they are to cleave, to be glued or cemented together with their wife. He breaks or modifies one relational tie and forms or develops a new relational tie to his wife. Now as a side note, this can be applied individually to both the husband and the wife. While parents are to be cared for and loved, to remain under the authority of and with responsibilities to parents can and will be detrimental to the health of a marriage. Each must come to a place of seeing the marriage relationship as primary, even over the relationship with parents or siblings.
While the need to re-prioritize your relationships is imperative, the emphasis of the verse is on the cleaving or joining with their wife and the two is now seen as one and inseparable.
This world’s love focus’ on things that are temporal. Things such a persons physical attractiveness, personality, wit, or any other appealing characteristic. Yet this love falls away when that physical beauty fades, the personality makes it’s natural shifts, or when any other characteristic changes. To love with an unbreakable love is to love even when such things inevitably change. To love even when her hair turns gray or the face of a young woman develops wrinkles. To love even when that personality dives into a blue period. A husband is to love their wife both in joyous days as well as difficult days, to love with an unbreakable love.
If every appealing characteristic of your wife disappeared tomorrow would you stop loving your wife? Is your love for your wife unshakable and unconditional no matter what? Do you make a constant conscience decision to love your wife no matter the circumstances?
Men, love your wife with a love that is unbreakable.
The Motivation to Love (32-33)
Now we have seen the description of the kind of love a husband is to have for his wife, yet this description falls on deaf ears with out a correct motivation. Why should you as a husband love your wife with this kind of love?
Notice with me the motivation of this kind of love.
Reread verses 32-33
We see in these verses that the husband is to love his wife not because of what she is or is not. He is to love his wife because it is God’s will for him to love her. The husband is to love his wife with a sacrificial, sanctifying, caring, and unbreakable love because this is the way Christ loves the church. Since Christ loves you with a sacrificial, sanctifying, caring, and unbreakable love shouldn’t you also love in like manner?
Conclusion
Read 1 Cor. 13:4-8a, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
Men, love your wife. I will give you a promise. If you love your wife as this passage has spelled out your wife will blossom like a blooming rose and your marriage will go from merely surviving to thriving. I guarantee you. Now does this mean that if your marriage is shaky today that everything will be fixed tomorrow? Honestly, your marriage will heal, but it will take time to heal. As the old adage states, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” nor will fixing you marriage happen in a day.
I want to encourage you husbands to love your wife with a sacrificial love, a sanctifying love, a caring love, and an unbreakable love.
“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:2–11, NASB95)
CPT: Paul warns believers to be cautious of false teachers and doctrine, yet to be courageous in Christ.
CPS: We must be courageous in Christ.
Question: How can you be courageous in Christ?
Me
I hate golf. It is so addicting and fun and frustrating all at the same time. I hate golf. I go and line up with the ball the right stance and the right club and the right shot in mind, yet rarely does that golf ball go where I want it to go. Especially with the driver. I would be what you call a ‘grip and rip’ player because I want to rip the cover off the ball so I grip the handle of the club and swing as hard as I can. Yeah I may be able to hit the ball hard and far, but it is 2-300 yards in the wrong direction. I hate golf.
I don’t know if I believe it or not but people tell me it isn’t about how hard you hit the ball. It is about how smooth you hit the ball. I’ve tried it and it worked, but I still don’t know if I believe it because it is the complete opposite of how I think it should work. I hate golf.
In the same way a significant portion of the population believe God and life are the same way. They believe that if they are going to make it to heaven they have to try as hard as they can. They have to live by a check list of what they can and can’t do. They believe they have to earn their way to heaven by doing all sorts of good things. It makes since doesn’t it. Think with me for a moment, you go to the grocery store to get milk and eggs, are they just going to give it to you? Maybe if you are using the five finger discount. If you are going to walk out of the grocery store with the milk and eggs you have to pay for it, we have to earn it. Or another way to think about is to go to you boss and tell them that you are not going to work anymore but you will see them every Friday for your pay check. I think they would laugh so hard you would be embarrassed. You have to earn that pay check.
If this is the case how can I have confidence that I have done enough or that I have done all the right things to be able to go to heaven.
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What about you? What do you think it takes for you to go to heaven? It is to walk the aisle? To say a certain prayer? Is it because of who we are or what we do? Do we earn our salvation by being a ‘good person’? Do we earn our salvation by checking off enough things on the check list?
How can you be confident? How can you be courageous?
God/You
The Apostle Paul was one such person that could be proud of a lot of things, but was he able to check off enough things on the check list?
Let’s see how he was able to live confident and courageous.
Read Philippians 3:2
Dogs- refers to the wild scavengers that plagued ancient cities and occasionally attacking humans. They were despised, and “dog” was frequently used as a derogatory term.
Evil workers- working with the motivation for self pride. “Look what I can do.”
False circumcision- circumcision symbolized an outward sign of the inner man with a pure heart. Yet for these people did it more as a ritual with no spiritual significance.
These are some very bold statements. These are people that could and did make Paul’s life miserable. How dare Paul say such derogatory things? Wasn’t Paul scared of these people?
Why was Paul able to be so courageous? It is because he was courageous in Christ?
So here is my question for us. How can you be courageous in Christ?
How can you be courageous in Christ?
You can be courageous in Christ because you have the true gospel. (3)
You don’t have an incomplete gospel. If you are a believer you have the true gospel.
What these false teachers were teaching was a ‘+ formula’. God plus or Christ plus my good works. This is simply a horribly dangerous lie. A horribly dangerous lie that is alive and well today. Here is the reality, the vast majority of us would say that salvation is through grace alone, YET what we really believe and work out isn’t grace alone but that ‘+ formula’. Christ + being a good person=heaven.
You can be courageous because the true gospel is a grace gospel. It doesn’t depend on you and how many good things you do.
Eph. 2:8-9- “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
You can also be courageous because the true gospel is something you can have conviction for. The gospel isn’t suppose to be an emotionless gospel but one for you to have conviction for. We ought to be far more concerned about glorifying Christ that what co-worker Suzy thinks about me. You and I need to live with conviction and when we live with conviction about the true gospel we will live courageously for Christ.
You can be courageous in Christ because you have the true gospel.
You can be courageous in Christ because you can boast about more than temporary things. (4-8)
People can get very proud of what they have accomplished. After tonight’s Super Bowl someone will be bragging that they are the Super Bowl champions. Maybe a person has a certain job, make a certain salary, from a certain family, or have a certain education. In fact people get so proud about these things that they boast about what ‘they’ have accomplished. Unfortunately, these are temporary things. They could lose that job with that salary tomorrow, they could lose that family prestige, and that education they are so proud of could give them a false since of wisdom. All of these things that people so often brag about are temporary. Here one day and gone the next. To be completely honest these are not things that you or I can put a lot of confidence in.
Yet here is the truth, as a believer you have something far better to boast about. Something that isn’t temporary but eternal. You can boast in the Lord. All of the things that you and I are so proud of is nothing or as our passage calls it trash compared to the riches of Christ.
You and I can be courageous in Christ because we have in Christ someone that we can truly boast about.
You can be courageous in Christ because salvation is through Christ alone. (9-11)
You are made right in the sight of the Father because of Christ (9).
You are progressively made more Christ-like because of Christ (10).
You reach heaven because of Christ (11).
It is through Christ and through Christ alone that you and I can have salvation. It is because of this that you and I can live courageously in Christ.
If you have heard nothing so far please here this. All things in this world pale in comparison to the glory of Christ. When we get to this point we can live courageously and live courageously in Christ.
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Do you want to live courageously? Then live courageously in Christ.
