Monday, March 22, 2010

5th Sunday in Lent

A Matter of Perspective

Lessons from Paul for Gaining a Humble Heart / Gaining the Prize Jesus Christ

At the end of the day what truly matters? Will it be the size of your home, the amount of acres you combine, the size of your heard, or the status you hold within your community or congregation? Where will all these gains lead you? What if you lose it all? When life smacks you in the face with a rotten sardine and you can barely pick yourself off the floor. Paul gained so much in his life. He had notoriety as a student of the law, an obedient persecutor of the early Christian church. Yet in all this he was missing something. In order for him to see this he had to loose everything to gain the one thing he lacked.

An English professor wrote the words “Woman without her man is a savage” on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.

The men wrote: “Woman, without her man, is a savage.”

The women wrote: “Woman! Without her, man is a savage.”

Were one saw Jesus wasting and indeed an opportunity for his own pursuits, 5“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)” Jesus saw it as, 7Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Perspective friends – it is indeed a matter of perspective.

hree preachers sat discussing the best positions for prayer while a telephone repairman worked nearby. "Kneeling is definitely best," claimed one.

"No," another contended. "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven."

"You're both wrong," the third insisted. "The most effective prayer position is lying prostrate, face down on the floor."

The repairman could contain himself no longer. "Hey, fellas, " he interrupted, "the best prayin' I ever did was hangin' upside down from a telephone pole.

What can we gain from the text today? What lessons can be harvest and apply to our daily lives? As we prepare ourselves to receive Christ what is God asking of us? To be real, to be authentic, to see how our lives can be truly lived free from the weight of sin and our desperate attempts at looking the part – as Paul suggests that he was all things to all people – but he was humbled so Christ would receive the glory.

Applying the Text

1. Perspective begins with seeing what truly matters.

a. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

b. Ever loose everything? My first time in a casino at age 18 I thought I was going to win a new car or something. With 20 bucks in my pocket I was set for a great time with my friends. What I latter realized that what little I gained it was lost in the end.

c. To be humbled causes us to see with perspective. Suffering the loss of all things in order to gain Christ.

d. It happened with Paul, with Judas, with me – and to us all.

2. Perspective calls us to see things from a new point of view.

a. 18Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

b. 7Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.

c. Judas and Jesus

3. Perspective refocuses our minds and brings about change.

a. 9When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead

b. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

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