Sermon for Sunday April 6th, 2008

Don’t Expect Church People To Be Perfect! by David Rigg

Philippians 3:4-3:14

Don’t Expect Church People To Be Perfect!
Philippians 3:4-14
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
2Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!
3For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
4though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
5circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Would everyone who believes he is perfect please stand up!

What? Nobody stood up?

How can that be?
We are Christians! Amen?

We are regular churchgoers! Amen?

We read our Bibles! Amen?

Well then we ought to be perfect! Amen?

No! We are not perfect.

However, that’s what people who don’t go to church expect of us!

They expect us to practice what we preach!

They expect us to act like Christians.

When we don’t, they love it!

They think that gives them an excuse for staying home.

Transition:

Today’s story is about a man named George Hollister. George was a hog farmer who refused to have anything to do with the church. When Timothy Doran accepted the call to become the pastor of Grace Church, he was determined to increase its size by reaching the lost. He met with the Elders of the church and asked them to make a list of the town’s people who didn’t attend church services anywhere. At the top of this list was none other than George Hollister.
Brother Timothy grabbed his Bible and off he went to the Hollister Farm. Upon his arrival, Brother Tim found George standing in one of his hog lots. After adjusting to the smell, Brother Tim walked over and introduced himself. George was a friendly man and the two men talked casually for a while. When the subject of church attendance came up, the old hog farmer’s attitude quickly changed. George explained in no uncertain terms why he would not go to church. “All ever see is a bunch of hypocrites who belong to your church!” he stated emphatically. He named two men who chased after married women. Then he named a woman who was the town’s worst gossip. He ended his attack on the church by saying, “If that’s the kind of people who go to your church then I don’t want any part of it!” Brother Tim quickly turned the conversation to another subject.
We’ll return to that story a little later!
Point #1
Church people are far from being perfect.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected…

The Apostle Paul declares: "I am not perfect”!

He’s being honest!

Paul knows that he frequently sins.

He says in 1 Timothy 1:15
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

1 John 1:8 says:
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

So anybody who thinks he is a good person

is only fooling himself.

When we get saved, Jesus does not destroy bodily weakness.

We still have sickness, pain, and many health problems.

It seems as we get older, the more weaknesses we have!

So obviously our bodies are not perfect


Back in 1979, they released a movie entitled “10”.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Bo Derek was a “10”

They claimed she had the perfect body!

I don’t think she did, but she certainly isn’t a perfect “10” now!

She’s 51 years old now and she’s changed a lot!


Our souls continue living in a corruptible body.

We are going to commit sin!


I make countless mistakes every day!

None of us can be absolutely perfect...like an angel.

None of us can be absolutely flawless.

None of us are above being tempted.

All of us have moments when our hearts are not completely pure.

We will make mistakes as long as we live…

and every mistake is a sin.


So, every mistake...if it were not for the atoning blood of Jesus,

Would expose us to eternal damnation in hell.

Transition:

Let’s check back in with Brother Tim and the hog farmer.
Brother Tim and George Hollister continued to talk. Finally, the preacher asked George if he could buy a hog from him. George was proud of his hogs. He told the preacher that his hogs had consistently won Blue ribbons at the county fair. “You have come to the right place to buy a hog!” he told the preacher.
After looking over the farmer’s entire swineherd, the pastor pointed to a scrawny, sickly, ugly little runt and said, “I want that one.”
More of that story will come later.

Point #2
Church people should strive for perfection
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Paul didn’t stay the way he was before he met Jesus.

He knew he hadn’t achieved perfection…

But he pressed on toward it.

This was his God-given purpose.

When Jesus saved Paul on the Road to Damascus,

that was just the beginning.
He had been saved to live for Jesus and to serve Him.

As long as he was on this earth

Paul was going to try to live like Jesus did.

And that is what we are all called to do!


The word "press" in Verse 12 comes from a Greek word

which means to follow after, to pursue just like a runner in a race.

Jesus saved Paul for perfection!

Jesus saved me for perfection!

And Jesus has saved you for perfection!


1 Corinthians 9:24 says:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

When I ran the 100 yard dash in grade school and high school…

I always ran to win that race.

What if I had said to myself, “There are 5 other boys in this race.”

“I probably won’t win, so I won’t try!”

Well, that’s foolish!

Sometime I won and sometimes I didn’t!

Was I disappointed when I didn’t win the race?

Yes, but since I ran as fast as I could I was satisfied!

Did my Track Coach get made at me for not winning?

No, because he knew that I had run as fast as I could!


What about you?

Are you striving for perfection?

Transition:

Brother Tim wants to buy a hog from George Hollister. The farmer objected vigorously, “Why, Preacher, you don’t want that one. He’s the scrawniest runt I ever saw. Look, there are some fine hogs over here.” “That’s all right,” said the preacher, “I want that one.”
We’ll hear the end of that story in just a moment!
Point #3
Saved people are not perfect, just forgiven.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
Every Christian…no matter how long you’ve been saved...

no matter how close our relationship is with Jesus....

has the constant need for the grace of Jesus.

1 John 1:8-9
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That word “confess” is translated from a Greek word…

Which indicates that it is NOT a one-time thing.

In other words, it’s a continual process!

We keep on “confessing” and God keeps on forgiving our sins!

Hallelujah!

Forgiveness is a gift that we must receive daily from Jesus.

Hebrews 9:27 says:
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

______ when you die,

do you want to be judged on how perfect you were?

We are not judged on our ability to be good Christians.

Whether we go to heaven or hell…

Is based on our dependence on Jesus.

Even the most holy of people need Jesus.


Christian perfection is dependence upon Christ!

A Christian becomes more and more aware

of his imperfections....

and is convinced of his need for Jesus!

And as the Christian becomes more aware of his need for Jesus

He becomes more and more sensitive to the will of God.

Therefore, we must "press on

to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of"

Paul writes in verse 13
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

This does not mean that we simply forget about our sinful past,

but we must leave it behind us!

Look at what Paul says in this passage.

In essence, he’s saying:

"If anyone has reason to be miserable by his mistakes...it’s me!

Paul had persecuted Christians.
He held the coats while Stephen was stoned to death!


Paul had been a Pharisee.

Pharisees worked real hard at being righteous people.

But now Paul considers all that as rubbish!

He no longer wants anything to do

with "a righteousness" of his own that comes from obeying rules

He wants the righteousness "which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

As Christians we must keep our minds

on growing and maturing in Christ.

We are all called by God to be perfect in Christ Jesus!

Therefore, we must keep our minds on perfection.

In verse 14 Paul says: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Sometimes this is very difficult to do

because we live in a world that is

gripped by the lust ...
by a desire for comfort and ease...
by a desire for pleasure and plenty...
by a desire for more and more.
The Holy Spirit pricks our hearts…

revealing when we are failing and coming short.

He tries to get our minds back upon living like we should…

upon pressing for perfection.


We will never be perfect in these earthly bodies…

But we can be forgiven through confession of our sins…

And faith in what Jesus did for us on the old rugged cross!



Let’s see why Brother Tim wants to buy the scrawniest runt hog.

After the price had been agreed upon and the deal was completed, George asked what the preacher was going to do with this sickly-looking pig. Brother Tim said, “I am going to let my son show that pig at the county fair and tell everyone that this is the kind of hogs you raise!” “Hey, Preacher, that’s not fair,” the farmer protested. “I raise fine hogs. An occasional runt doesn’t ruin my whole stock.” To which Brother Time replied, “I am only following your example of condemning a whole church because of the stunted spirituality of a few of its members.”
CLOSING:

There are no perfect Christians and there are no perfect churches.

We are all sinners!

People who don’t go to church need to admit that they are sinners.

They need to do that before it’s too late!

They need to accept Jesus as their Savior…

And become an active member of a Bible-believing church.


People who go to church need to remember

that people are watching them.

It may not seem fair, but Christians are held to a higher standard.

Church people need to make sure they aren’t providing someone

with an excuse for not going to church.

Though we are sinners saved by grace…

Our goal should be the same as the Apostle Paul.
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus