Philippians chapter 3, we want to look today at the benefits of a Christ-centered life. The benefits of a Christ-centered life. We're reading from the verse 10 of Philippians chapter 3. But I may know him, Paul prays, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, But this one thing I do, for getting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. We'll end our reading there please at the end of verse 17. One of the problems of the Christian life and of Christianity in general is putting into practice what we know to be true. It is living the Christian life. We can have all of the theology and we can have all of the data of scripture. We can be good theologians as far as knowledge is concerned. But when we come to put it into practice, there is a great difficulty. And it is this that Paul is speaking of. Paul, who is the most prominent and most articulate theologian of the New Testament Church is praying here in this chapter 3 of Philippians that he might know Christ He has not yet attained that for which Christ has apprehended him for which is to glorify Christ and which is to bring everything in his life to conformity to that upward call to bring the stuff of life that we live in here into conformity to that upward call to be called out of this world and to be conformed to the image of Christ. And so as you go through this life and as you go through the Christian life you discover that it is difficult, in the extreme, difficult to put into practice. Many people leave the Lord's Day of Service, perhaps I trust with this determination. The Lord having spoken to you, you leave with this determination, with this prayer that you will be enabled by God's grace to practice what you've heard. That you will be enabled by God's grace to do better than you had done the previous week. And you realise the difficulty when you get up the next morning. The struggle, the ongoing struggle. The bottom line of the Christian life is Christ. And that's what Paul is saying here. It is Christ. And this is what it means to preach Christ, to present Christ in such a way that His life and teaching is brought to bear, that the life of Christ and the teaching of Christ is brought to bear on all of my life. That that which Christ taught, that the words of Christ, that the words of Scripture which are the words of Christ and His life as my example is brought to bear on my life. In other words, that my life is brought into conformity to the word of God. That's what it means to preach and to hear Christ in the preaching. It is Christ's accomplishments of salvation. His salvific, if you like, accomplishments. His moral example. His person. His work. His position as he sits today at the right hand of the throne of God. That all of Christ That all that he has done, that all that he has said, that all that he is doing and all that he will do will be brought into my life, into my work, into my language, into my doing and action. This is what Paul is seeking to do here. His desire is that the Christians would pursue Christ. is what he says in verses 13, 12-14 that I follow after verse 13, I reach forth and verse 14 I press toward and he instructs us on how we can do this successfully by a determination, by a reaching forward, by a pursuit of Christ and then in verses 15 and onward he rests his case with the knowledge that only God ultimately is able to do this. Look at verse 15. Let us therefore as many as be perfect, or as many as be mature, or full grown in Christianity, not perfect in the sense of sinless, but mature the word is. As many as be mature be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. And so after laying out Paul's master plan of successful Christian living in the pursuit of Christ, in the reaching forth of Christ, in the pressing forward for Christ, in the following after Christ. This great master plan that Paul has for successful Christian living. He presents it to the people at Philippi and he leaves the rest with God. If they are otherwise minded, God shall reveal it unto you. And that is the central truth that we are looking at today. It's a very important phrase. If in anything, in other words, if there are some things that are not brought into conformity, if there are some things that are not following after Christ, God will reveal it to you. But the key for Paul here is that there is this great central push in the Christian life. There are peripheral things in each life. But if that life at the centre of that life is pursuing Christ, God will bring these other things into conformity. Like the vortex draws to it all that goes around it. And so the central life, your life beloved, if I could outline what Paul is indicating here. Your life might be going in this general direction of God glorifying and a God exalting life. Your desire is at the heart to glorify Christ. But there are certain things on the periphery of your life, there are certain things on the externals of your life that are inconsistent with that general pursuit. We all have them. You might not be able to see them but we all can see them. I might not see mine but you all can see mine. Because there are things in all of our lives that are not consistent with that general and hard pursuit of a Christian. I'd like to illustrate it with the illustration that I used before of a flight. You take a flight from Vancouver, as we did in March or February, from Vancouver to Amsterdam. It's a 9 hour flight. And for 9 hours you're going east. great juggernaut of the air is going east for nine hours. But in the midst of that flight which is travelling east for nine hours you might get up and walk about. And if you're at the front of the plane if you're first class, which I wasn't, if you're at the front of the plane and you walk backwards, question is what direction are you going? Are you going east or are you going west? You see, there are things in our lives where the general tenor of our lives, the general direction of our lives are going towards Christ. Whereas there are smaller things, peripheral things that are moving backwards. There are aspects of my life, in other words, that are not in consistency with the heart of my profession. And this is what Paul is dealing with. There will be areas of our life that will need continually to be brought into conformity to Christ. And this is where Paul is. His heart is in love with Christ. His eyes, he seeks to be governed out of respect for Christ. This is what it means to live the Christ-centered life that he is dealing with in verses 12-14. He presses on to bring his eyes and his ears into conformity, out of respect for the Word of God. His mind to gird up the loins of his mind, to bring his mind into conformity to the truth of scripture that he reads. His life to be dominated by the will of God, to know the will of God and the power of his resurrection. His home to be governed by the love of Christ. His thoughts to be employed in thoughts about Christ. All of life, every aspect of it, every aspect of it. we must seek constantly and determinately to bring into conformity to Christ. So Paul is saying verses 12 to 14. But there are benefits to that if we are seeking to do that if we have this concentration and determination and my life is focused on Christ in this way there are benefits. to that, this Christ centred life. The first benefit I think that Paul indicates here is the benefit of a confident life. A Christ centred life is a confident life. Notice what he says in verse 15. Let us therefore as many as be perfect or mature be thus minded. This is our mind. But if in anything ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you. He's saying that there is obviously some of you who are of a different opinion than me in certain things. This is my goal as a Christian, as an apostle. to pursue after God and to press toward Christ and to follow after and to reach forward. But there are some of you who are of a different opinion. The post says that doesn't matter to me. And he says humbly, whatever your opinion is, that's your opinion. This is my opinion. This is what I do. This is my goal as a Christian. And regardless of what others think about him, Paul is confident in his walk with God. And he is determined in it. And he is consistent in it, as the Scriptures tell us. Because Christ-centeredness gives us a boldness, gives us a confidence to pursue after Christ. Regardless of what others think. Regardless of what others think. In a world in which the church is mocked and maligned it is easy to get a complex. It is easy in this world where the philosophy of the world and the philosophy of a broader evangelicalism to give us a complex that we are rigid, that we are strict, that we are so-called quote-unquote legalistic in certain aspects of our life. Paul says I don't care what the others think. If you are of this mind, that's up to you, the Lord will deal with that which we are going to come to. Paul, I want to say, has a confidence where he's at with the Lord. And it's that same confidence I want you to have with the Lord as you focus upon Christ. Because not only is it possible in the world to get a complex and to be burdened out, and to be hindered and suppressed by the world it is possible within the church to get a complex Evangelicalism is so broad and undefined Evangelicalism is so anemic today that it is hard even within a church to take a stand for Christ and what you believe to be true and what you believe is the proper practice of a Christian because we are maligned and we may be ridiculed as legalistic because I have certain practices and it doesn't matter beloved what tag someone puts on you as an individual as you stand before God and you come before the scriptures of truth and you are determined to your own master Paul says you stand or fall and if God has revealed certain things to you out of his word how you should live then you ought not care what others think. You should have boldness in that. You should have a confidence in that. And it is not, it is not, please hear me, it is not a cocky self-confidence. It is not a cocky self-confidence. Paul knew who he was. Paul knew what he was about. as an apostle and as a Christian but it was not a self confidence that made Paul bold it was a Christ confidence ultimately Paul's confidence was not in his friends his confidence was not in the church his confidence was in nothing in this world his confidence was in Christ and that's what he says in the previous verses I have no confidence in the flesh Verse 4, I have no confidence in the flesh. If I could broaden it out, we know he is speaking about his own flesh. If I could broaden it out, I have no confidence in my own flesh and I have no confidence in your flesh. Because flesh is flesh. I have a confidence in Christ. I have a confidence in who He is and what He has revealed to me. And so I say again beloved that Christ centredness and a Christ centred life, a pursuit of Christ gives us a boldness, a confidence in who we are and what we are about as God's people both in the world or in the context of a church or in the context of your family Know who you are, not in yourself but in Christ Know who you are, not in yourself but in the word that Christ has given you. And pursue that, pursue that. In order to do that you have to be in the word and you have to be in prayer as we see, as we are going to see. But Christ centredness is not only a confident life, Christ centredness is a charitable life. Charitable life, and this brings us on from what we have previously said because Paul's confidence is not a self confidence cockiness. It is charitable and contrary to what one might think, the confidence that Paul had, the confidence that he had in Christ was not arrogant, it was not intolerable. There are many people whose confidences in their religious positions are intolerable and they are arrogant. Paul's confidence was otherwise because his entire life was Christ-centered. It was Christ-centered. And I said that his confidence was a Christ-centeredness. Self-confidence breeds pride and we hear all the time, and if you go to the bookstore of chapters of Barnes & Noble or wherever you go, this fastest growing section is this self-help, self-aid, self-confidence. I want to destroy confidence in myself and I want to build confidence in Christ because it's only confidence in Christ that gives me true, lasting, deep and bold confidence and enjoyment in this world. And this is where Paul is at because self-confidence breeds pride and pride breeds intolerance and intolerance breeds antagonism. Paul on the other hand has this tolerant position because he says let us therefore as many as be mature be thus minded and if in anything ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you this is my position this is what I'm telling you to do some of you don't agree with me and that's okay to use a North American phrase that's okay bless your heart But know who you are. Know who you are. And God will reveal these other things to you. You see his charitableness? You see how he deals with these things? Because he realised, first of all, that he had not arrived himself. That's what he says in verses 12-14. I have not arrived. I have not. apprehended yet that for which Christ has apprehended me. I haven't arrived myself and so therefore I can be tolerant with others who haven't arrived either. And if we are Christ centred we realise our own insufficiency, we'll realise our own inability, we'll realise our own sin if we are focused on Christ And we'll realise that those around us are in the same boat as we are. Or I'll put it another way, I'm in the same boat as them. You look at somebody and you see an inconsistency in their life and you see sin in their lives and we are prone to judge and condemn. But we must realise that we are in the same boat as they are. Because if we look at our own lives, we have sinned. We haven't yet attained, we haven't yet made it. Paul says here that if any of you are otherwise minded God will reveal it. It is charitable also because the important thing is always to focus on Christ. The situation here is that not everyone is where Paul is spiritually. They are not all at the same level, they are not all on the same standard of sanctification as Paul is. And so he says if there is anything or if there is something that you are otherwise minded on God will reveal it. God will reveal it. Because our relationship with Christ and our relationship with the world and our relationship with the Word of God is so complex and so far beyond our ability and so difficult to attain that we all will have differences. We all will have differences. And there are lessons here beloved as we deal with other Christians. I have six short points as we do with other Christians in this realm of charitableness towards others. There are some things first of all that are peripheral, secondary and not fundamental to the gospel. Remember that. Not everything that you read in scripture that you should do is fundamental to the gospel. Not everything that you read as an individual in scripture is for the next person. Understand that, and life will be happier for you. Because there are some things that are peripheral, that are secondary, that are not fundamental to the gospel. Paul identifies Christ as the centerpiece of the gospel, as the centerpiece of the Christian life, and he is happy as long as an individual is going in that direction. As long as there is that direction of the individual he is content to leave secondary issues to fall into place at another time. God will reveal it. Paul doesn't say this in frustration. Paul says if you are otherwise minded the Lord will just reveal it to you. Paul says this not out of frustration and not out of a desire for immediate revelation. Paul is saying if you are otherwise minded, keep going in that direction, keep going on and pursuing Christ and God will reveal it to you. Second thing, there are some things therefore that we should not judge too harshly on. Paul is not interested, I want you to understand this and see what he is saying. Paul is not interested in pursuing certain things here. Whatever it is he is talking about that the Philippians are on a different mind on. Whatever it is that Paul is talking about that the Philippians are on a different page on, Paul is not interested in pursuing it. He is interested in getting them to Christ. He is interested in enabling them by the grace of Christ to pursue after Christ and he is not judging them too harshly. There are things here that are unidentified. Unidentified. There are personal areas of inconsistency that each of us have, that each of us must work through. And this is what the scripture means when it says beloved, that love covers a multitude of sins. That's what Paul is saying here. Love towards Christ and love towards the saints in Philippi covers a multitude of these secondary issues. That I'm not going to pursue it this time, he says. So there are some things that are peripheral, there are some things that we should not judge too harshly on. Thirdly, there are some things that take time to be brought into conformity. There are some things that take time to be brought into conformity. Paul lays down this major principle that Christ must be pursued. that Christ is all in all but as Paul looks on these people and sees their inconsistencies he sees that there are things in their lives that will take time to remove that will take time to deal with I think we see an excellent example of this with regard to slavery Paul does not categorically and explicitly denounce slavery in the New Testament and we looked at that when we looked at Philemon But he lays down principles that makes it impossible for Philemon to own a slave and to treat Onesimus as a slave and he leaves the rest to follow in. There are some things beloved that take time to be brought into conformity. We're in the flesh. We are all on this journey towards Christ and perfection in Christ and as we move forward there are things that are being dragged in and pulled in to this vortex of perfection in Christ. There are some things, fourthly, Paul recognised can only be addressed by general principles. There are some things that can only be addressed by general principles. Not every little detail in your life is addressed specifically in scripture. You will look in vain. You will look in vain to find a verse to tell you that you can't smoke or do other things such as that. These are questions that come up all the time. But there are general principles. but rule out certain things in the Christian life and Paul says there are some things that are only addressed by general principles it is our duty then as a Christian it is my duty, it is your duty to be in the word and to extract from my daily reading of scripture to extract from the word of God these general principles that I govern my life by that I bring into conformity all these aspects of life under the general principles of scripture and as I go on in life there are things that will come up later on down the road that will need to be brought into conformity that I haven't yet met with in life. So these general principles will come into play. There are some things that are fixed best by example. For Paul is. He says, if you are otherwise minded, God will reveal it to you. And in the next verse, nevertheless. For now. For now. Verse 16. whereunto ye have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us walk towards Christ. Let us walk with Christ in mind. Let us mind the same thing. Brethren, he says in verse 17, be followers together of me. So there are things then that can only be fixed, or that are best fixed rather, by example. Be followers together of me. And he says Be followers together of me. He says you do it together. The togetherness is among the people of God. Be followers together of me and mark them which walk as ye have us for an example. Mark those in the church. We come here again to the corporate idea of the church, the working of the church. That's why we meet together. The church is not made up of certain individuals scattered here and there and maverick separation style. The church is a together body. That's why we meet, that's why I encourage you to meet. That's why we have a service tonight in the Lord's house. That's why we meet on a Wednesday night. That's why we have prayer times and fellowship times because the church is to meet And by meeting together we provoke one another to love and to good works. We do what Paul says here, we are followers together. You can't be an example to me if I never see you. And I can't be an example to you if you never see me. We're followers together. We labour together. We work together. And when part of the body is missing, we miss it. When you're not at church, we miss you. Paul is saying here, there are some things that are fixed best by example. Sixthly, there are some things that must ultimately be left with the Lord. So we leave it. You have said your peace and Paul has said his peace. There are some things, beloved, in life that must be left with the Lord. We've made our mind known. There's nothing more we can do on a human level and the Lord must reveal it. I have access only to the ear, Paul is saying. The Lord has access to the heart. I can make you hear it with your physical ear, the Lord only can make you hear it with your spiritual ear, your heart. And so he leaves it with the Lord. If you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this unto you. And this leads us then to the final point that I want to make. As Paul deals with the church in Philippi, he does so recognizing that not all Christians were on the same page. They were growing, they were developing in different places, not only with himself and with them, but they were growing together and Christ centred life then is a consistent life Christ centredness is a consistent life because the Lord is working not only with Paul but with these people Paul hasn't yet attained they haven't yet attained the Lord is working and he will bring it together he is building his church And the Christ-centred life, thirdly, is a consistent life. It gives confidence in a world of uncertainty. It gives charity in a church with indifference. But it gives consistency, and this is the third benefit of my Christ-centred life, or of your Christ-centred life. It gives you confidence to live in a world of uncertainty. It gives you charity to live in a church with differences. But it gives you consistency in your personal life. Paul says, if there is obedience at the heart, then there will be obedience on the peripheral issues, eventually. In other words, to put it in modern terms, a Christ-centred life will have it together. will happen together, will be conformed. Paul says it will be conformed because God, God will reveal it to you. As I said, he's not saying this in frustration, well I can do nothing else, leave you with the Lord. He's not saying it in this immediate declaration that the Lord will reveal it in some miracle, that you'll become immediately perfected. No, if there be any differences, God will perform it. In other words, you will be God taught. God taught. And so he's not saying, and understand what I'm saying here, Paul is not saying that God as the revealer of perfection is the last resort. Paul is saying that God as the revealer of truth is the best teacher. Is the best teacher. It doesn't matter what I say, relatively, just in case you think you can just walk out and disregard everything I've said. But it doesn't matter, ultimately beloved, what the preacher says. And it doesn't matter what the preacher demands of you, ultimately. Because I could have you, humanly speaking, As some have done in the past, have had their congregations in such rigid obedience to them in the pulpit that they are scared to step out of line. I don't want a congregation that does everything I say to please me. And that's what Paul is saying here. I want a congregation that is God taught. Theododeictos. One word in the original. God shall reveal it. So he says in 1 Thessalonians 4.9 Ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God It's one word, taught of God And so I say then that the Christian life, the Christ centred life, the life that is pursuant of Christ at the heart will find that it will come into consistency, there will be a coherence in it. Things will be brought together. And if my goal in life is Christ and I am living in communion with him in his word, there will be this conformity to the rest of my life automatically. Automatically, over time as life develops and as my understanding of the word develops There will be this conformity. Christ will become the vortex of my life and he will draw everything into conformity to him. That means, beloved, and let me understand what I'm saying. That means that you don't have to focus on this. There are some people who focus on their home life to have their home life so Christian that the rest of their life is in disarray. There are some people who focus on their work life to have their work life so Christian, so called. that their home life is in disarray it happens all the time beloved and they read books about home and they read books about helps in the workplace and while there is a place for books in the Christian library that give you helps in your home and helps in your workplace and helps with your tongue and helps with ease let's not forget the focus, I think if more Christians read the scriptures and were God taught we would have less need for all this plethora of aids and helps on the periphery. If my focus is Christ and I'm in His Word and I love Him for who He is and what He has done, And I want to walk with Him and therefore I am in His Word seeking His guidance. I'm seeking His will. I'm seeking His Spirit to speak to me as I approach His Word. I pray that with this Christ-centered desire then my home life will be brought into the vortex. And my work life will be brought into the vortex. It can't be otherwise. It can't be otherwise. That's what Paul is saying. as your all in all, and if you're pursuing Him, then everything will come into play, into place. In time, in time, God will reveal it to you. We'll be conformed to His will. And you will then become an example. This is where I bring in to play this final aspect of consistency. Because Paul says, if you're otherwise minded, God will reveal it to you. But those of us who are mature, those of us who have understood this for some time now, Paul being one of them, and others in the church of Philippi, look to them. Verse 17. Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have for an example. There are men and women in the church, as he says in other places, women who are to guide the young and men who are to teach younger men. There are men in the church, there are women in the church who have it together spiritually, they have learned these principles. And their life is in conformity and being brought into conformity. Oh the might of inconsistencies here and there, but they are being conformed. Follow them. Look to them. Spend time with them. And you then will become in time, as you grow, as you develop in the church, you will become an example. You will become a pillar in the church. And so Paul here is dealing holistically with the life of a Christian in the life of a church as he develops these Christians that they will be God taught as being best taught by God and being developed by Him. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.