The Lenten Focus

Text: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

You’ve probably heard motivational speakers, or experts on leadership, or maybe even some preachers who will tell you that you have to have the right focus to be successful. You have to think the right way and be calculating in your decisions. And while their focus is generally on the worldly types of success that get people ahead in business and in this life, there’s actually a lot of truth to this way of thinking. Of course, if your focus is on the wrong things, like failures from your past or pain that you just can’t let go of, these things are going to keep you from achieving in this life. But, while positive thinking and focus and avoiding the negative that can so easily creep in can help you move forward in life, this isn’t at all what Paul is offering in his encouragement to the Philippians in today’s Epistle. What Paul is offering us as we continue our Lenten journey on this Second Sunday in the season is encouragement to

KEEP OUR FOCUS ON THE SAVIOR.

Last week we heard that His journey is what guides our journey. Today, as we continue on this Lenten journey, we’re reminded that it’s very easy for our spiritual focus to get off track. Which is why Paul needs to remind us that there is someone who we can focus on that will keep us on the path, ever straining toward the goal of everlasting life. And while he does encourage the brothers and sisters in Philippians to imitate him, it’s not an admonishment to follow his lead, or even to act like him, except by imitate him in focusing on the One who will earn the prize for all of them in the end.

As Paul nears the conclusion of his Epistle to the Philippians, he invites us all to imitate him by saying, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Too often today, our prominent leaders and those who are trying to get us to follow them come off in their speaking as incredibly arrogant. They hold themselves up as examples to imitate on the road to success. But Paul is not one of these arrogant leaders. He’s not just some expert in the field trying to offer practical advice based on his own experiences as so many who seek to lead try to do. He’s an apostle, a servant of Christ Jesus. And what he has to share with these saints in Philippi, and with us, is much more than a pep talk on how to focus on the right things in order to be successful. To imitate Paul has very little to do with him at all and everything to do with Jesus.

While the “successful” leaders and preachers of today may tout their own accomplishments, Paul counts his as loss. This is what we hear in the verses immediately preceding our text, and what we’ll hear in our Epistle reading just a few weeks down the road. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Jesus” Anything that’s worldly or of the flesh that might make him confident in himself he sets aside, clinging only to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Lenten focus that we’re called to have imitates Paul by clinging to the righteousness of Christ, which comes through faith.

Our Lenten focus must also recognize that there is a tendency for all of us to reject the cross of Christ so that we might achieve self-glory. Paul presents a contrast here that would have been easy for his hearers in Philippi to see. It’s also easy for us to see in our context. While Paul himself set aside things that bring confidence in the flesh, there were many in the Church who did not. This isn’t the first time that Paul writes about enemies of the cross of Christ seeking to have glory lavished upon themselves as opposed to recognizing where the real glory is in the Savior who suffered all, even death, for them. Here he warns about them again. This time with powerful language telling of their ambitions toward self-glory and how in doing this they end up rejecting the very event that offers them salvation. The cross of Christ. “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”

That final phrase sums up the reality of sin for these people who Paul is describing. But it’s not just them. It’s every person of all time. “With minds set on earthly things.” How easy it is for our focus to be divided between the things that God desires our minds to be set on and everything else that this world tells us we should be focused on. And to have a divided focus would be one thing, but the truth is that the longer our focus is divided between the things of God and the things of this world, the more we’re neglecting the single-mindedness that God calls His children to have. To be completely honest, it’s a First Commandment issue. When God says to us, “You shall have no other gods,” He’s not saying, “I need to be the biggest God in your life.” He’s saying, “I need to be the only God in your life.”

Can you truly say that you have no other gods besides Him? I can’t. I struggle right along with each of you in the temptation to put myself above others. To speak an unkind word in order to build myself up. In my desire for the things of this world. Even that self-glory that seeks to exclude God’s work in Christ as the source of my salvation.

This is very much what Paul is getting at with the Philippians. The issue here is a false confidence in one’s own flesh, as if we could contribute to the work that has earned us the title and role of forgiven and redeemed child of God.

It’s so easy to fall back on the Law and cling to a confidence in our own works or accomplishments. Even during this season of Lent that becomes a temptation for us. What did you give up for Lent this year? Chocolate? Soda? Social media? It’s fine to practice self-discipline. It can be a great spiritual exercise. But sometimes it’s easy to go too far, like when your self-discipline becomes something you hold over God or your neighbor. The pride of the old Adam wants to get some credit. It’s hard after all. At least I should get some points for going forty days without this or that. You want God to be impressed. And maybe it’s not just God. Maybe you want the notice and praise of your neighbors too. It may seem harmless on the surface, but ultimately it rejects the work of Jesus at the cross and all that He accomplished for you there. If our self-discipline is to do anything for us, it’s to help us to focus on Christ and His cross.

          The true Lenten focus laments, even weeps for this rejection of the cross of Christ in favor of a tendency toward self-glory. Jesus models this as He laments over Jerusalem in the Gospel. He’s lamenting the fact that God’s people had this same focus. Or perhaps a lack of focus on the right things. They had rejected the prophets, stoned and killed them, just as they threatened Jeremiah in our Old Testament reading. And so, they reject God’s promised Son as well. The voice of the prophets was ignored and the call to repentance went unheeded. Just before Jesus wept over Jerusalem, He talked about the narrow door. Why will so many who seek to enter not find the way? It’s because of a confidence in the flesh. Clinging to a righteousness of the Law and thereby rejecting Christ and his cross. We come by it naturally. Our sinful nature will always be seeking ways to justify ourselves. But in doing this we reject the great and glorious gift that we have through Christ and His sacrifice for us. And for that we need to repent. And when you turn away from that selfish ambition, strive for what is greater. What God has freely given you in Christ. His grace and His forgiveness.

For He strove not for self-glory but for God’s glory. His focus was to glorify God by giving up everything for you, even his life. Paul beautifully proclaims this earlier in his letter to the Philippians. That Christ became a servant, obedient even to death for you. He emptied himself of everything, to be filled with all your sin, your selfish ambitions, your desire for your own glory. I need to hear this myself too. And remember that at the cross He took on my desire to put myself above others. My desire for the things of this world. Every unkind word I’ve ever spoken about others. And even that striving for my own glory that ignores the fact that I don’t earn my own salvation. Not to mention every other sin that would otherwise condemn me to a life apart from Him.  He covers me, and you, with His own perfect righteousness.

Knowing that we have this forgiveness in Christ, our Lenten focus doesn’t have to look back to the faults and failing of our past. It can now help us to look ahead to the return of Christ and your own resurrection. “We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore . . . stand firm . . . in the Lord, my beloved.”

That’s the goal, not our glory but God’s. His glory that will be bestowed on you fully when Jesus comes again. So, press on in this journey. With a clear focus that looks beyond the successes of this world. Because they’re fleeting. And remember that this isn’t just a Lenten focus. It’s the focus of the Christian life. It’s much more than positive thinking or seven steps to a better you. It’s a focus that glories in Christ and revels in daily repentance and faith. That’s the focus Paul invites you to imitate. And it’s also why you can stand firm in the Lord. He’s done everything for you and for your salvation. And remember, as Paul says, “Our citizenship is in heaven,” even now as we walk the way of the cross on this Lenten journey. Amen

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.