Memory – Philippians 1.6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ
In 1964 I was stationed at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, Texas for my training as an analyst for my work with the Air Force Security Service. While undergoing this training I was confronted by a fellow Christian about the level of my commitment to Christ. That very night I made a very conscious decision to follow Christ more fully. Bill Cord, the believer who challenged me, followed up by meeting with me multiple times each week to help me get grounded in my faith. We started our study with the epistle to the Philippians. I was particularly captured by what Paul wrote about his desire to know Christ: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3.8b – 11).
Decades later when I was teaching others about the basics of the Christian faith, one of the books I put on the reading list was Basics for Believers by D. A. Carson. Interestingly, this well-known biblical scholar returned to the basics when introducing the essentials to new believers. I still find it helpful to refresh myself of the fundamental truths of the faith. Just like the tennis axiom – keep your eye on the ball. Over the course of the next couple months I will be giving you a Scriptural sampling from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The letter is short, only 4 chapters long, but it may serve as a basic framework for some essential truths a Christian ought to know. As you are memorizing these few verses it may be helpful to read through the letter a few times – it’s a ten-minute read at most.
Paul opens his letter addressing the believers as those who are called to be saints. Essentially this means that they all belong to Christ (cf. Romans 1.6-7; 1 Corinthians 6.19). If you belong solely to Jesus you are, by virtue of this relationship, separated from the things of this world (cf. Colossians 2.6). The apostle John uses the imagery of being grafted into Christ (John 15.5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing). I like the urgency of Paul’s concern for the Christians in Galatia … my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! (Galatians 4.19; cf. 2 Peter 1.3-11). There is no place in the Christian’s life for complacency or mediocrity in the believer’s commitment to Christ. I like D. A. Carson’s humorous, albeit sad, description of too many would be Christians in his commentary Basics for Believers.
I would like to buy about three dollars’ worth of gospel, please. Not too much—just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races—especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars’ worth of the gospel please.
Decades later when I was teaching others about the basics of the Christian faith, one of the books I put on the reading list was Basics for Believers by D. A. Carson. Interestingly, this well-known biblical scholar returned to the basics when introducing the essentials to new believers. I still find it helpful to refresh myself of the fundamental truths of the faith. Just like the tennis axiom – keep your eye on the ball. Over the course of the next couple months I will be giving you a Scriptural sampling from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The letter is short, only 4 chapters long, but it may serve as a basic framework for some essential truths a Christian ought to know. As you are memorizing these few verses it may be helpful to read through the letter a few times – it’s a ten-minute read at most.
Paul opens his letter addressing the believers as those who are called to be saints. Essentially this means that they all belong to Christ (cf. Romans 1.6-7; 1 Corinthians 6.19). If you belong solely to Jesus you are, by virtue of this relationship, separated from the things of this world (cf. Colossians 2.6). The apostle John uses the imagery of being grafted into Christ (John 15.5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing). I like the urgency of Paul’s concern for the Christians in Galatia … my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! (Galatians 4.19; cf. 2 Peter 1.3-11). There is no place in the Christian’s life for complacency or mediocrity in the believer’s commitment to Christ. I like D. A. Carson’s humorous, albeit sad, description of too many would be Christians in his commentary Basics for Believers.
I would like to buy about three dollars’ worth of gospel, please. Not too much—just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races—especially if they smell. I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars’ worth of the gospel please.
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