Philippians 3:12-21 

I was running last weekend with my daughter Kim, and I happened to mention to her that I’d like to get to a point where I could run 4 miles 3 times a week, and 5 miles once a week. Now, honestly, I kind of picked those numbers out of the air. So, of course, Kim immediately said, “Then I need to make you a training schedule and you’ll have to follow it. You can’t just haphazardly go out and decide how to run each day based on what you feel like doing that day.” (Both of our kids are shy and retiring like that, very hesitant to speak their minds…) 

Actually, she is right about that, and she’s perfectly capable of putting together a training schedule that will bring me to a goal in a reasonable amount of time. But I’m not ready to buy into that yet – for one simple reason. I have yet to make up my mind whether or not this goal is important enough to me to put in the effort that it will take necessary to reach it. 

I’m not too far from that goal anyway, and the truth is that right now, running is almost fun for me. But if I start setting goals and having training schedules, and all that, it’s going to become something different. (It might still be fun, maybe even more so – but I’m not sure! That’s really the issue for me.) 

I think there is a life’s principle at play here, one that has a spiritual component as well. And it goes something like this: our motivation to reach a goal is linked (in logic we would say ‘it is directly proportional’) to the value we place in that goal. I.e., if my goal is important, then my motivation to reach it will be high. If it’s not, it will be low. 

Now that might seem to be self- evident, but I think it’s important to spell it out, and hopefully you’ll see what I mean by that before too long. 

Back to running – if that mileage goal was really just me ‘blowing smoke’ then it doesn’t matter how good or potentially effective any training schedule is. Because if I really don’t care how far I’m running, the simple fact is that I’m not going to stick to any regimen. But, if I decide that running those distances is going to put me ‘over the hump’, that my health is going to be better, or I’ll drop a few more pounds, or I’ll be able to enter a race and not embarrass myself, or whatever, then I’ll probably stick to it. Because I know I’ll do whatever I have to do to reach a goal that is important to me. 

And obviously, so will you. Whether we’re talking about honing a skill or a talent, or working towards a better job, or being more productive in our current job, or getting better grades in school, or winning the heart of that special someone out there, a motivated person does not give up very easily. And the more motivated we are, the more focused we’ll be on the method of getting to that goal.  Would you agree with that? [Good, we can go on!] 

Hold that thought, and we’ll be right back…

***

Last week pastor HeyYoung mentioned how this is the time of year that churches typically focus on stewardship, featuring pledge drives, campaigns, financial thermometers and so forth. She reminded you of our decision last year to broaden our focus, which effectively ended our financial pledging. It was a grand experiment which sets us apart from the ‘norm’; and one which we will continue this year as we again will be looking toward a weekend not of pledging per se, but a Celebration of Discipleship (which will be November 17/ 18^th). 

The conviction that led us to this change was not that pledging is bad or even unnecessary. It was more so realizing that pledging itself is all about ‘membership in an institution.’ Again, there is nothing wrong with being a part of an institution – especially the church. That is certainly a good thing! And you can understand why we would need financial support, and why good planning is important to that end. 

But when I look in the Gospels I have yet to read of Jesus inviting anyone to ‘come join my church’.  He didn’t see James and John working on their nets and suggest to them that they might want to put down their nets and join his church, and here’s a pledge card which will really help us in an important way to keep the ministry going. 

No, Jesus’ invitation was ‘Follow me.’ The invitation was to be his disciple. To follow him, to learn from him, to take on his life, his values, to be filled with his Spirit, on an ever increasing basis until we meet him face to face for eternity. Financial accountability is part of that invitation, but just a part. There is much more to it. 

This relationship – this decision to be a follower of Jesus –  is what the institutional church is built upon. A church is a gathering of committed disciples. And so we decided that we would better serve you by giving you an opportunity, and by teaching and challenging you to make a commitment to Jesus Christ as a disciple, or to re-affirm a previous commitment. 

To that end, we summed up the walk of a disciple into four basic disciplines, which we called the “Four Pillars of Discipleship” and we invited everyone in the congregation last November to sign a card and lay it on the altar stating our intention of being his disciples, and expressing that by addressing four areas of priorities. These four areas are not anything that we discovered, they are the traditional areas of focus for a disciple of Jesus Christ that have been with us for generations. 

They are:

• Having a Plan for our Spiritual Grown that includes accountability to someone else
• Having a Plan for our Worship – both public and private
• Finding a place of Service based on our Spiritual Gifts
• Financial Giving – based on the Biblical standard of a tithe. 

If you look at these four, you can picture them as ‘Spiritual Breathing’. The first two, we breath in. We take in – they basically address things that nurture our souls like Bible Study, Prayer, accountability, and our worship disciplines. Breathing in. 

The last two is our breathing out – we serve based on our Spiritual Gifts, (which we need to identify) and we give financially … systematically, regularly and cheerfully. 

As you’ve already figured out if you were here last week, we’re planning on doing something very similar this year. We’re again focusing on these four important components of our Discipleship. And once again, we are going to invite you to affirm your decision to be a disciple in an act of consecration in our Celebration of Discipleship weekend. But we’re going to do it a little differently this year. 

Instead of simply asking you to sign a card, we want you to struggle with this a little bit! (That was too easy!) We want you to think, “What is my plan for spiritual growth?  What am I going to be doing for Bible study and prayer and spiritual reading this year? Who is going to hold me accountable for that? What’s my expectation for worship? [Once a month, publicly? Every week?] What about privately – do I expect to have a time of daily worship? What would that look like? 

How do I expect to give back to God this year? Where do I plan to serve – what will I do? And how much do I plan to give financially in the coming year? (Is this a tithe, is it a step toward a tithe?) We want you to think about these questions in a very prayerful way. 

In order to help you with these, we’re going to provide a form – a “Discipleship Covenant”. It will look like this. And in our worship services in the weekend of November 17 – 18, we’re going to invite everyone present to fill one out. Right in the service, we’ll give you time to do this (and we have a special treat that will be taking place while you’re doing this!) When you’re finished, you’ll seal them in an envelope, because this is something between you and God. It’s your covenant with God. 

Put your address on the envelope and we’ll bring them to the altar as an act of consecration. WE (i.e., the staff, the church) ARE NOT GOING TO OPEN THEM OR READ THEM!  We’re simply going to hold them, pray over them, and in about 6 months, we’re going to mail them back to you as a reminder of this important day, so you can check and maybe adjust your course.  You see, this is all about discipleship. 

Now, here’s where we get back to where we started earlier today. If your short-term memory is working OK, you’ll remember that I made this statement: Our motivation to reach a goal is directly proportional to the value we place in that goal.  So now you can see my logic here, right?

We can write anything on these covenants – and we may write out a wonderful plan. It may be the best plan ever! One that could help us greatly to grow stronger as disciples of Jesus. But if we don’t really believe that growth is important, or necessary, or that it requires effort, then we will be making empty promises. And these covenants will be just so many words. 

I am going to write a covenant. I’m already thinking about what I’m going to put in each of these four areas, because I am already highly motivated to keep my covenant. I know that for certain. Which leads me to the point of this message: in the short time I have left I’d like to try to share with you – if I can even put this into words –  my ‘why’. Why is having a plan for growing as a disciple of Jesus Christ important to me? What motivates me to keep such a covenant? 

I’d like to thank the folks from my Wednesday night Bible study class for helping me focus these thoughts. Last Wednesday, I asked them to talk about this with me: ‘What brings you here to the Church on a Wednesday night, when you could have been out trick-or-treating, or watching TV, or whatever else?’  Why is studying the Bible, and coming to church and giving your money, and serving so important to you that it becomes a matter of discipline – it is our routine, it is our life? Why? 

Their answers were profound and moving and makes me wish that we had enough time to hear your responses as well. One thing that became apparent to me as we talked about this is that any complete ‘answer’ is going to be multi-faceted. Because most of the group on Wednesday prefaced their responses with “Well, I agree with everything that has been said so far …but also for me _______.” 

We talked about having a sense of being at peace with God, something that requires our attention in order to maintain.  A couple people mentioned the joy they experience in knowing that they are being used by God to minister to others – knowing that keeping up in their discipleship, keeping that relationship strong is a necessary part of being available to God. 

Someone else described how there are these (we might call them) “God – moments” in our lives; those ‘a – hah!’ moments when God ‘shows up’ unexpectedly and we know it. It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that these moments are more frequent (or we are more aware of them) when we are deliberately walking in a path of discipleship. We’re more open to what God is doing all around us. 

Still someone else talked about how being an intentional disciple helps us to be honest with ourselves about who we really are – the filters and the masks, and the self-deceptions are taken away and we are ‘revealed’ – something that sounds kind of scary to many people, but in truth is wonderfully liberating. Because we are being ‘revealed’ before a God of healing, grace, and mercy! 

My personal answer also begins with “I agree with all of the above”!  But I think that for me the closest thing to a bottom line response very much relates to the message that Pastor HeyYoung shared with us last Sunday (“Why Worship?”) In this passionate message she shared with us that her reason for worshipping God was not about duty or what she had to do. Worship is not an obligation, but it is a natural and powerful inner pull towards a God who revealed himself to her in a time of great emptiness and need.  This God whose light shone into her life in a time of deep darkness and gloom, continues to shine that light to this day. That’s her reason for worship. 

For me, my motivation to discipleship in general is based on something very similar.

There is a wonderful promise in the Old Testament that I have based my entire ministry upon. It comes from the book of Jeremiah[1] and is a promise from God himself.  “Those who seek me with all their hearts will surely find me.”  That promise has given me the confidence to tell people for 27 years of preaching that no matter how desperate things might seem for you, no matter how disconnected you might be from God, that if you turn to him with all your heart, and look for God, you will find him. 

I believe because of that promise, that there will be moments in the Spiritual journeys of all true seekers when everything comes together. Maybe not a lot of these moments, but enough of them, and they will be significant enough for us to remember for a long time. I’m talking about moments when the clouds roll back and the heavens are opened in some way that we can’t miss, and we catch a glimpse of the beauty and awesomeness of God. 

It’s amazing how in those moments we find that doubts fade, and problems suddenly don’t seem so problematic. But one of the most lasting changes is that those moments are priority shifting. In those brief Elijah-on-the-mountain type glimpses of the ‘back of God’ we know that ultimately the pursuit of anything else is not going to satisfy us. Once we acquire a taste for the Living Water, there is nothing else that will satisfy! 

Jesus once told a parable about this. He said, “Here’s what the Kingdom of heaven is like… it’s like a man who made a living buying and selling fine pearls. But one day he came upon the most wonderful, incredible pearl that he had ever seen. And he knew that he had to have it. So he went out and sold everything he owned…everything he owned… went back and bought that pearl. 

I am motivated to know God better because what I do know of him is not only the best part of my life, but it affects every other part of my life that has value. Not just as a pastor, which you would expect. But I also want to be a good husband and father, and a good friend and a good man, and my relationship with God demonstrates to me what real love is, and it makes my life better by showing me how to be a better person. I have a deep love for nature and art, and my relationship with God enhances that too, by a constant reminder that this beauty that we see everywhere and in such variety is not random or accidental – it is declaring the glory of God. 

I want to be able to respond to hurt, and tragedy in life in a redemptive way and I want to know that it’s not all for nothing, that there is hope ahead, that there will be a time coming when it will all make sense even if it doesn’t right now. And all of that….all of it … is enhanced, it grows and grows the deeper I delve into God. 

And none of this happens by accident. It requires attention, and time. Sometimes it is ‘work’. And sometimes it is difficult. And sometimes it is painful. But it is always good! 

My challenge to you is twofold:

For those of you who have tasted and have seen that the Lord is good, “Go deeper.” Don’t stop now! Don’t hold back – dive in! Make a plan for the coming year that will guide you in going deeper; ask for the help of the Holy Spirit in putting this together and follow it. See what good new thing the Lord reveals to you. 

And for others who are at the very beginning of this journey. I offer you hope – God will reveal himself to all those who seek him with all their heart. That is God’s promise. John Wesley, the father of the Methodist Church, was talking to someone once about his uncertainty of faith and his relationship with God. A surprising admission, since he was an Anglican priest at the time. This man gave him this advice, “Preach Christ. Preach Christ until you believe it!” 

In other words, he was saying, live the life and you will find that faith follows. Try it. Lean on the Lord. 

O taste and see that the Lord is good!