I’m Kind of A Big Deal
Rev. Amy Morgan
October 2, 2011
Philippians 3:4b-14
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:circumcised 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;as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More 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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ,the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, 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, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
I want you to imagine a foot race with three competitors.
The first is Usain Bolt, the fastest human being. He stands near the starting line, stretching, warming up, practicing his breathing and his stride. As he jogs in place a bit, he leans over to the next competitor and says, “Just so you know, I’m kind of a big deal. I’ve broken the world record in the hundred meter dash twice. I’ve won three Olympic gold medals. I wrote a book. I opened a restaurant.”
Usain’s competitor nods appreciatively and responds, “Good for you. But just so you know, I’m kind of a big deal, too. I’m what you might call a real estate tycoon. I have my own reality T.V. show. I’m #17 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. My net worth is upwards of two and a half million dollars. I’m Donald Trump. Nice to meet you.”
The third competitor in the race has been listening in on this conversation, and he wanders over. “Well, just so you both know,” says the Apostle Paul, “I’m kind of a big deal myself. I was circumcised 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; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”
The other two competitors roll their eyes, Paul shrugs, and they all step into the starting blocks.
Usain Bolt is feeling pretty certain of his victory because he can run a hundred meters in 9.58 seconds.
Trump is feeling pretty good as well. He owns the stadium and will make a billion dollars off this event no matter what the outcome of the race.
Paul, however, is a little uncertain. It’s not his lack of physical speed or material wealth that concerns him. He has the goal in mind. He knows what he’s after. And he wants it badly. He just knows there’s no guarantee of victory.
As the starting gun goes off, the three shoot out of the blocks. Well, Trump sort of trots out. Bolt is moving fast as lightening. And Paul has got his eye on the prize, regardless of the speed of his feet.
Throughout the race, Trump is waving at his fans, reveling in the victory before he can even claim it. Bolt is looking behind him to see how close his competitors are. But Paul is straining forward with all his strength, focused only on that finish line, as though the rest of the world has disappeared. For Paul, nothing matters except crossing that line, reaching that goal.
Usain Bolt flies through the finish line, breaking yet another world record. Trump has stopped off for a glass of champagne. But Paul keeps going. Past the lounging Trump. Past the victorious Bolt. Past the finish line. The crowd becomes fixated on him. Where is he going? Why is he still running? The race is over. He’s lost. But Paul doesn’t look back. He keeps running toward this goal, this finish line that no one else seems able to see.
Let’s imagine for now that the audience in the stadium for this imaginary foot race is the church at Philippi. The church is located in the economic center of the Roman world. It’s members have Roman citizenship and are likely fairly well-off. Even as they’ve endured persecution, the church is healthy and thriving. They’re tight with Paul, who founded the church and has visited them on several occasions. They have women in leadership. They’re on the cutting edge of this whole Christian movement. In other words, they’re kind of a big deal.
But what they realize as they watch Paul continuing to run, to strain his whole being toward this invisible goal is that, as it says in Ecclesiastes, the race is not to the swift. Paul’s race is not a competition. Victory is not defined by coming in first. Success is not equal to winning. The goal is not wealth or achievement or perfection. Crossing the finish line is the goal. And there’s no point in looking back to see how far he’s come because he’s not really certain how far he’s still got to go. But he presses on.
And the church in Philippi gets it. Because they live in a super competitive culture. Life is about achievement, success, wealth, status. Philippi is populated by the rich and famous and successful, and by loads of wannabes.
And this competitiveness has begun to creep into the church. Different religious groups have begun competing for followers. Disagreements amongst church leaders have caused competitive factions to form. And as they watch Paul, they understand that they’re missing the goal. So one by one, they begin to leave the stands and start running after Paul, trying to catch up with him. He slows down for them, and as they all run along together, he explains:
“The goal is the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, the pull and sway that God has on our lives because of what God has done in Jesus Christ. What I’m after is the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Knowing Jesus Christ as the one who lived, died, and rose again, as the one who showed us God’s love and how to live out that love, as the one who wants to own our lives in order to set us free – that is of more value than anything else.”
Paul uses all this language of the marketplace – value, loss, gain, profit – and the language of competition – of goals and prizes – to make his point that the life of faith has a different set of values from commerce and competition.
Now I want us to imagine that First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham is that audience in the stands. We’ve got a great church. We’re everybody’s church. We’re doing dynamic mission, we’ve got great programs for children and youth and adults. We’ve got an amazing music program. We’ve got a Rummage Sale that will soon have raised over two million dollars for mission. I mean, I don’t want to brag, but, well, we’re kind of a big deal.
So when we see Paul running past wealth and achievement, when we see him not looking back at his victories or failures, when we see him focused solely on this invisible goal of connection to God in Jesus Christ, what do we do with that?
As awesome as our church is, commerce and competition have crept in here as well. Whether it’s our concern that another church has more members or that we don’t have all the stuff we think we need to attract new members – we miss the goal sometimes.
But, I think, in many ways, we have left the stands and are running alongside Paul. The session voted last week on a new vision statement that is going to help us focus on the goal and keep our eyes on the prize. You’ll be hearing a lot about that very soon. We run alongside Paul when we walk with those on the margins of society – whether it’s through mission work or our Disability Inclusion Ministry or outreach to children in Foster Care.
Most of all, we run alongside Paul when we come to this table. Here, at the Lord’s table, we are reminded of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. Here, we are reminded of the goal of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ. Here, especially on this World Communion Sunday, we are reminded that Christians of all times and places run along with us, that for all our divisions and difference, we all share the same goal, and the same prize awaits us all. This table is like the water break that keeps us running for as long as it takes.
I want to close with a true story. And I want to tell this story because it illustrates the serious reality of Paul’s message. And I am grateful to the person who has allowed me to share it.
There is a young person in this church who, a few weeks ago, signed up to participate in track and field day at school. When she got to the sign up area, all of the slots for all of the events had been filled, except one. There was one spot left on the tug-of-war team. And so this person signed up for the tug-of-war team and looked forward to participating in at least that one event.
On the day of track and field, she was approached by every member of the tug-of-war team and was asked, strongly encouraged, and finally persuaded to give up her spot on the team. It was for the good of the team. They couldn’t possibly win with her on the team. The focus was so much on the competition, so much on winning, on winning a high school track and field day game of tug-of-war, that this young person was left out of the entire event, pushed aside and made to feel worthless.
In fact, this young lady is kind of a big deal. She is intelligent and compassionate and gifted in so many ways. But more importantly, she understands the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus her Lord and strains toward the goal of the heavenly call of God. She may have missed out on the track and field events at school, but she is running right alongside Paul.
If we’re in it to win it, if we’re about proving we’re kind of a big deal, we’re missing the goal. Not only that, we’re missing out on the One who is the real deal. When we push others aside or put them down in our pursuit of wealth, or achievement, or perfection – we drop out of the race and will miss out on Jesus Christ, the real deal.
The race Paul is running is one that begins with the humility of knowing that God is the only one who can ensure victory. It continues with forgetting the past – the good and the bad – and focusing on what lies ahead. And victory is about crossing the finish line – not coming in first.
So my question to you today is, are you kind of a big deal? Are you focused on the heavenly call of God in Christ or on the call of the CEO promoting you to a higher, better paying, more prestigious job? Do you share Paul’s belief in the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord, or do you believe in the surpassing value of an Ivy League education? Take some time this week to sort out which race you are running, who you’re running with, and what you’re running for. Are you kind of a big deal? Or are you after the real deal?
Let us pray:
God of grace,
Help us remember that knowing and belonging to Christ is more valuable than anything we could hope to achieve for ourselves. Help us to keep our focus on you and not on the consumer-driven and competitive culture we are immersed in. As we feast at your table, give us the strength to keep running toward the goal of your heavenly call.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
