Text: Philippians 3:7-17
One of my all-time favorite movies is “City Slickers” –
starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance. I always like movies that have
memorable lines in them and this one has one of the best. If you’re not familiar
with this flick, Billy Crystal plays a salesman who is approaching middle age
and wondering where his life is going, and he and a couple of friends head out
to a dude ranch for a couple of weeks to get away and contemplate the next
chapter in their lives. Jack Palance plays the tough old cowboy who turns out
to be a philosopher. Take a look at this scene:
(Note: If you're offended at Jack Palance's reference to, er, "crap," remember that the word that is translated as "rubbish" in Paul's letter to the Philippians is essentially the same word as Palance uses, just cleaned up by the translators)
One thing.
Every time I watch this movie I’m struck by that question,
and the more I think about it the more I realize that the failure to recognize
that one thing is probably the biggest issue that most people deal with.
A USA Today poll a few years back asked the question, “If
you could ask God one question, what would it be?” Some of the answers were
predictable, like “Why is there suffering in the world,” while others were
intriguing like, “Where do socks go when they leave the dryer?” But the number
one question people wanted to ask God was this: “What is the purpose of my
life?” In other words, what’s the one thing?
Our culture seems to driven by the pursuit of purpose.
Pastor Rick Warren wrote a bestselling book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” but it
didn’t seem to quell the hunger for meaning. People are riding to and fro
across the landscape looking for purpose in things like wealth and power, in
sex, in relationships, in work or in getting 15 minutes of fame on TV or
YouTube. Some have pursued so many things that they are exhausted, while others
still haven’t found what they’re looking for and decide to check out by
spiraling into addictions and self-destructive behaviors. Most people seem to
be living their lives by simply sticking their finger in the air to see which
way the wind is blowing today.
It seems so simple. One thing. But somehow we can’t see it.
The good news, however, is that God does. God created us for
one thing—one purpose. When I was younger and in confirmation, we had to
memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the first question of which was:
What is the chief end of man? (What is humanity’s purpose) – to glorify God and
enjoy him forever. Wesley would put it a little differently: “the one thing
needful is the renewal of our fallen nature.” – in other words, to get back to
the beginning, to become the people God created us to be from the beginning.
Our problem is that we can’t see it because there’s
something blocking the view—something the Bible calls “sin”. This morning, as
we get into our series on the Method in Methodism, it’s important that we take
the advice of the real trail boss and pay attention to the one thing that
matters
A lot of Christian traditions talk a lot about original sin,
believing that sin is an inseparable part of our human DNA. We are thus
predestined for the eternal trash heap unless God does something for us. The
doctrine of original sin takes a very low view of humanity, which many in the
Reformed tradition call “total depravity.”
We know that is certainly true—humans are broken by sin and
are helpless to overcome it on their own. What we forget, however, is that,
biblically speaking, original sin only followed what Wesley called “original
righteousness.” God created humans in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27), and
called that creation “very good.” These original humans had a face to face
relationship with God, a relationship of complete openness and intimacy where
nothing was hidden. They reflected the very nature of God.
But these humans also had a free will, which meant they
could make choices. God knew that for these humans to be authentically in
relationship with him, they needed to be able to choose that relationship
freely. Love must be authentically chosen in order to be real. The snake
reminded them that they had a choice, and they chose against God, which is sin.
The question, however, is did they HAVE to choose against
God? Could they have chosen to remain as God’s perfect image? Well, think about
us…do we have to sin because we’re human, or can we choose otherwise? Wesley
defined sin as a willful choice against God, not an involuntary state of being.
If love is an act of the will, then it follows that sin must be as well.
Sin has been the human family’s problem from the beginning,
and if you know anything about family systems you know that family traits are
passed down not only through our genes but also through the systemic emotional
and relational patterns we retain from generation to generation. Those systemic
patterns, while influential, aren’t necessarily prescriptive. Just because your
family has three generations of alcoholics, for example, doesn’t mean you HAVE
to become an alcoholic. You can choose otherwise, recognizing that it’s still a
difficult choice. We all have the disease…only God has the cure.
Sin, willful rebellion against God, is a human family trait
passed down from generation to generation, but it doesn’t mean we have to
continue the pattern. We can make the decision to turn toward God and allow God
to reshape us, reform us, and help us grow into healthy, whole, and holy
people. We can choose God because we know that God is always choosing us!
Methodists believe what Paul believed—that the one thing,
the most important thing in life, the goal of the Christian life, is to be
formed in the image of God which is perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ—the one
who has chosen us and loved us from the beginning. I love Paul’s language
here—verse 12 – “I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”
For Paul, for John Wesley, for us—the “one thing” that
matters is being renewed in the image of God. That renewal is not an event, but
a life-long pursuit. Paul didn’t believe he had arrived there yet and neither
did Wesley, but they understood that they were on the way. To be on the way,
however, means leaving some things behind.
Paul left behind a life that other Jews would have found
admirable and respectable. John Wesley left behind the comfort of being a
parish priest. These weren’t bad things in and of themselves, but they were
nothing compared to the irresistible love of Christ. Paul traveled the ancient
world risking life and limb to share that love. John Wesley risked the ridicule
of his peers and preached in the open air to people whom proper society had
forgotten. If we are to know Christ, to become like Christ, to be formed in the
image of Christ, then we have to be willing to put that one thing ahead of all
others.
How do we get there? How do we begin to form an identity in
Christ? How are we to become renewed in his image? What does Christian maturity
look like? (after all that’s part of our church’s purpose statement)?
Well, we’re going to talk about that over the next three
Sundays, because these questions are at the heart of who we are as Christians
and Methodists.
Next Sunday, we’re going to talk about how God pursues a
relationship with us. Methodists believe that God always makes the first move
toward us, wanting to make us his own. Wesley called that “prevenient grace” –
the grace that God offers even before our own knowledge and love of God. Unlike
a lot of popular religion that seeks to find God somewhere out there, we
believe that God comes looking for us, just as he looked for those first humans
in a Garden long ago. We have our “Back to Church” Sunday next week, and it’s a
great time for us to invite others to hear how much God loves them and wants to
change their lives forever.
The next Sunday we’ll talk about justifying grace—when we
respond to God’s offer of grace, we are given new life and new birth. The
barrier of sin is removed and we can begin to pursue the one thing that matters
most—becoming the people God created us to be. We’ll touch on baptism and how
that is a sign of this new life.
Then, on the 19th, we’ll talk about sanctifying
grace—the grace that helps us move from new birth to maturity in Christ. It’s
the process by which we grow more intentionally into the image of God.
We don’t need to keep searching for the one thing—God wants
to bring it to us through his grace!
