Christ in Philippians

15 minutes ago, we sang, There is nowhere else I'd rather be than seated in the presence of my king. All I want is you. All I want is you.

Did you believe that when you sang those words? Do I believe that? Yes, I do.

I'm a pastor at this church. I believe that that is true, but, do I believe it? What do I want?

The truth is, I want a million things and God is one of them. Yet we sang these words, all I want is you. All I want is you.

I can't help but feel a little bit of hypocrisy, because I want a million things and God is just one of them. It's not just me. What do people want?

What is it that human beings want? Property prices are down 7 percent in Sydney, according to an ABC article. The AI bubble is teetering on the edge of collapse due to overspending on infrastructure.

Oil prices are back up because the conflict in Iran is back on. The fashion cycle is endless.

I read a couple of months ago that the main driver for the fashion cycle is that teenagers grow up and they rebel against their parents and they want to look as different as possible from mom and dad.

So if mum and dad wear skinny jeans, the teenagers wear baggy clothes. And by the time they have their own kids, their kids have skinny jeans. This is the fashion cycle.

What is it that people want? What do I want? What do I desire?

Where can I find it? And if I do find it, will it satisfy? Desire is the question this morning.

Want is what we're talking about. What do I want? This is the question that Paul addresses for us.

We are in the 20th instalment of 66 in the Christ in Scripture Project. We have an ambitious goal over these two years to spend one week in every single one of the 66 books of the Bible to see how that book points us to Jesus.

We're in a series called The Letters of Paul. We are three weeks in looking at the letters, the epistles that St. Paul wrote to the churches.

Today we're looking at Christ in Philippians.

A little bit about Philippi. Philippi is the town that Paul was writing to. It was a city, probably, as in it was a city, not a town, in the northeast of Greece, and it was full of retired Roman soldiers.

So Roman soldiers who have done their duty, fought in the Roman Empire's army, would retire and get given a parcel of land at Philippi. So the whole town is full of these Roman soldiers. Not very many, not a large Jew population, largely Gentile.

In Acts chapter 16, we read the story of the planting, the founding of the church in Philippi. Do you remember Lydia, the cloth maker? She gets saved and starts a church in her house.

Paul and Silas are imprisoned in Philippi. The birth of the church is in Acts chapter 16, and that's the city that Paul is writing his letter to. Now, Paul is writing Philippians from prison, probably prison in Rome.

I think that's important context for everything that he says. Rejoice in the Lord always. He's writing from prison.

So Paul is writing to the Philippians, and what's interesting about the letter to the Philippians is, there's not really a crisis that made Paul write the letter. Scholars call it occasion, so Romans, right?

There was conflict in Rome between the Jews and the Gentiles because the Jews had been expelled under Emperor Claudius, and they had come back, and suddenly the church was wrestling with this issue, so Paul wrote a letter to fix the issue.

Philippians doesn't really have a problem that Paul is trying to fix. I mean, there's sort of a disagreement between Euodia and Syntyche, but Paul says, I hope that you guys can be reconciled to each other.

The reason that Paul wrote the letter of Philippians is to say thank you for a gift. The Philippians had supported Paul by giving a monetary gift out of their poverty via Epaphroditus, and Paul writes the letter of Philippians to say thank you.

And so, Philippians is this uplifting and joyful letter we read in verse 27 of chapter 1. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Paul's purpose is this.

That's the thesis statement of Philippians. He desires to lift up Christ so that we would want to be like him. Paul is setting an example for all of the believers by pointing to Christ.

And so, you think about that great passage in chapter 2, in your relationships with one another, had the same mindset as Christ who, though being in very nature, God did not consider equality rather he was crucified and then God exalted him.

The great Christ hymn of Philippians, it's all about this, lifting up Christ, that we would look to him and desire to be like him.

Which brings us to chapter 3, Paul is doing the same thing, he is lifting up Christ that we would model our lives around him. Let me read again what Anne has read for us. Chapter 3, verse 4b.

If someone else thinks they have reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

Paul takes us through a journey of what humans want, this journey of desire, and it starts in stage one with, I want. This is where he starts, I want.

Paul is apparently dealing with this tendency within the Philippian church to want to add on all of these extra things to Christ, to yeah, trust Jesus, but also be circumcised, circumcised, join the people of Israel, do all these extra things.

He's reflecting on what it is that a person wants. This list of the seven things is what a first-century Jew would want. It's everything that a person would want.

Let's go through them quickly, the seven things that Paul lists. The first three are statuses, meaning Paul had no control. They were things that he has by virtue of his birth.

The last three are achievements, things that he has done. And then the middle one, the fourth one, is a hinge. So circumcised on the eighth day.

So Paul's parents were Torah observant Jews. They took him to the temple to a priest to be circumcised at exactly the time that the law requires. Paul has the right ritual background.

Secondly, of the people of Israel, Paul was not grafted into the Jews from the Gentiles. He is by birth an Israelite. He's from the family of Abraham.

Number three, he's of the tribe of Benjamin. That means that not just the people of God, but one of the two tribes that stayed somewhat more loyal to the Yahweh when the ten tribes in the north were exiled into Assyria. Let's go to the last three.

Number five, in regard to the law of Pharisee. That means that Paul read his scriptures and had the highest standard of obedience. He was a Pharisee, Pharisee called right standing.

Number six, as for zeal, persecuting the church. Paul didn't just do the things because he had to do them. He was passionate about it.

Number seven, as for righteousness based on the law, he was faultless. He did everything that the law required. And so then the middle one, number four, Paul says he is a Hebrew of Hebrews.

He's a Hebrew by birth. That's what the first three points say. He was born into the family of the Hebrews, but he is a Hebrew of Hebrews because he has maximised his birthright.

We read in Acts chapter six that there are two types of Jews, Hellenistic Jews who speak Greek and Hebraic Jews who speak Hebrew. Paul is saying that he's a Hebraic Hebrew. He's a Hebrew of Hebrews, a true Jew, he has not compromised.

In other words, Paul is giving his complete perfect resume of everything that a first-century Jew could want. Seven, of course, being the number of completion. It's the complete resume.

Paul says, I had everything that I want. This is stage one of desire. I want.

Paul has it all. I was researching for this sermon this week and I wondered if there was a field of study dedicated to the question of what people desire, what they want.

So I looked around and there's not really a thing called desirology or wantology. It's not really a thing. But I realised there is an industry, not a field of study, but an industry devoted to the question of what people want.

Do you know what it is? That took me a long time to work that out. You guys are really good.

Advertising is apparently a trillion dollar global industry. And the roots of advertising is desire. Advertisers are trying to make you desire their thing, their person or product or service or something, and to trade money to get that thing.

Desire is a trillion dollar industry. We live in a war of wants. It's calculated somehow that we see on average 5,000 ads every day.

Every one of those ads is trying to grab at your desire, trying to make you want a new car, a new phone, a trip overseas, a ring, a gym membership, a burger, trying to awaken desire.

There is a trillion dollar global industry dedicated to what human beings want, trying to get us to desire. Now, desire is not a bad thing. Christianity, somewhat uniquely among the world religion, says that desire is not the problem.

It's misdirected desire. Desire is a good thing, but we desire the wrong things and we live in this war of wants. We are bombarded with desire.

Wanting is not a bad thing. To want is human. The problem is it is hard to want the right things in a world with 5,000 desires coming at us.

How do we want the right thing? So Paul is real, I think. Here in Philippians 3, he's starting where we all start, with the fact that I want.

He's just a pragmatist. I think one of the first words that a toddler learns is me, mine, I want more. To desire is to be human, and that's where Paul starts.

But he doesn't end there, which brings us to verse 7. Whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I've lost all things.

I consider them garbage 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 is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul's journey through desire in Philippians 3 begins where we all begin, with the fact that I want, but then he comes to realise that I want Christ. This is the second stage of desire.

I want Christ, having listed his all-star resume, the seven things that a first-century Jew would want above all things. Paul's conclusion is that they are garbage, ‘skubalon’ in Greek, which is like a four-letter word for poo in its context.

He says that all of the gains that I had, everything that I once held dear, is now loss. And why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Did you know 52 times in his 13 letters, Paul says Christ Jesus, our Lord, once in all of his writings, Paul says, my Lord, and it is right here. This is a deeply personal moment for Paul.

He has come to realise that what he wants most of all in the universe is Christ. He has had everything that the world offers, and he considers it garbage compared to knowing Christ. The surpassing worth of knowing Jesus.

Paul would give up everything if just to have Christ, and that's what he has done. Remember he's writing this from prison. Prison in the first century and probably now is not comfortable.

He has lost all things, but he has gained Christ, and that is surpassingly worthy for him. Paul has got to the place where he can say, all I want is you, and he means it. All I want is you.

So Paul wants Christ. Good for him. There are lots of more passionate Christians in the world that want Jesus more than I do.

How do I want Christ? How do we go from I want to I want Christ? Because the gap between those two things is really big.

How do we control our desire and put it on Christ? How do we stop wanting the things that we want and start wanting Christ? How does the soul do that?

Psalm 23 in the KJV says, what? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So is that the solution?

I shall not want. I shall not want a new car. I shall not want a better job.

I shall not want a spouse gritting our teeth and trying to force our desire onto Christ when we don't really want him, but we move our desire. Is that the solution?

Or do we take Jesus' words in Matthew 5 that if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And as Willard says, we roll into heaven a mutilated corpse.

We could still desire in here. We cannot by direct effort, direct effort, control our desire and put it on Christ. We can't grit our teeth and say, I shall not want and I shall want Christ.

It doesn't work like that. So how do we get from I want to I want Christ? How do we follow Paul's logic and his journey there?

I think Jesus answers this question in the form of a story, a parable. And it's awesome that Jesus tells stories, parables.

He teaches in parables because these truths roll under our barricades like a grenade and then they blow up with truth and they transform us. So if you get nothing out of this message, get the passage and get this parable that Jesus told, Matthew 13.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. That's the answer.

How do you get from I want to I want Christ? You get a vision of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. You see the treasure in the field.

Do you think the man had to be convinced to sell everything that he had to buy the field? Do you think his friends were twisting his arm behind his back to get him to let go of everything else that he had to get the treasure? No.

Jesus tells this parable to make the point that the man had a vision of the treasure and he gave away everything else in order to get the treasure. What I'm saying, what Paul is saying is have a vision of the worth of Christ.

And as the hymn says, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. We cannot by direct effort move the desire of our heart onto Christ.

But we can put before ourselves a vision of his worth and pray that God would twist our heart toward himself. This is what it is to want Christ. This is what the Christ in Scripture Project is all about.

Lifting up Christ 66 times through every book of the Bible, seeing how that book shines a light onto the diamond of Christ, that we may see him more clearly, and that our hearts would be turned towards him.

Paul says in verse 10, I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Two ways that Paul wants to know Christ, the power of his resurrection and the participation of his sufferings. We know Christ in these two ways.

We know him in the resurrection power that transforms us, in the sin killing power that wins us for Christ. I've seen in my life sins killed by the resurrection power of Jesus that I couldn't have done on my own.

We know Jesus in the power of his resurrection, but we also know him in the participation of his sufferings. Because with Christ, there is no meaningless suffering.

So on the highest mountain and the lowest valley, Christ is there and Paul decides to know him in every place.

Paul continues in verse 12. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in

Christ Jesus. Paul takes us on a journey of desire, thinking through what it is that humans want. It starts with the fact that I want a million things, and then Paul finds that Christ is better. I want Christ.

But then he lands with the idea that I want to want Christ. That's stage three of desire. Paul has had everything that a first century Jew could want, and he realised it is garbage compared to knowing Christ.

But even as Paul lives this life with Jesus in the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, he still has this feeling that he wants to want Christ more. He says, not that I have already obtained this, but I press on.

He says, I desire to know Christ, not that I fully know him, but I press on to know him more. Paul says, I want to want Christ. Scholars call this metacognition, meaning to think about thinking, to desire, to desire.

You might call it the difference between first order desire and second order desire. First order desire is I have an apple and I desire the apple. I don't actually desire apples, but say I did.

First order desire is I desire this. Second order desire is I desire to desire the apple. That's what Paul's talking about.

I want to want Christ. The truth is that we said a moment ago, first order desire is not in our control. We cannot by direct effort move the heart from what we want onto Christ, but we can control second order desire.

We can desire to desire Christ. We can do the things that put ourselves in the place where God would foster a desire for Christ. Does that make sense?

We're talking about discipline, spiritual discipline, doing what we can do to enable us tomorrow to do what we can't do today. So you're in church this morning. That was a direct effort.

That was Will or maybe your partner or your mom dragged you here. You're in church this morning. That is something that is in your power.

You can't directly want Christ more, but you can come to church and by God's grace, the fellowship of the saints, singing together, praying together, coming under his word.

By the grace of God, God can meet us in that place, in this place and form our hearts to want him more. This is second order desire, desiring to desire Christ. I want to want Christ more.

Frankly, I find that so relatable and helpful because I was literally singing, all I want is you, all I want is you. And it's true, but I want to want him more. And to be honest, I want to want to want to want him more.

We want Christ and we want him more. But that's what faith is. Faith is a longing for Christ.

David Brooks is in New York Times, well, he's not with the New York Times anymore, but he was. And he wrote, he's a Jew, he grew up ethnically Jewish, sort of non-practicing, but later in life, he met Jesus.

And he tells in this New York Times opinion column, article, his story of coming to faith. And he says this, the most surprising thing I've learned since becoming a Christian is that faith is the wrong word for faith as I experience it.

The word faith implies possession of something, whereas I experience faith as a yearning for something beautiful that I can sense, but not fully grasp. For me, faith is more about longing and thirsting than knowing and possessing. Is that relatable?

You might be further down the road of faith than I am, and that's not relatable, and you feel like you possess God as much as you want. I find that immensely relatable. Faith itself is the longing to know more of Christ.

Faith is the desire to desire Christ more. And so St. Augustine said that the whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing, constantly longing for God.

And I find that relatable because I taste and see that God is good, and that makes me want more of him and more of him and more of him.

How do you move from I want Christ to I want to want Christ? Two things, a prescription and a warning, a prescription, spiritual disciplines. You're in church this morning, you've done one of them, that's good, community.

But we have this legacy of 2,000 years of church history, of the practices of the people of God, that put us in the place where God could transform us.

Solitude, silence, fasting, prayer, meditation, community, all of these practices put us in the place where God could turn our hearts toward him. We can't directly want Christ more, but we can do these things and God by his grace will meet us there.

Secondly, a warning. How do I get from I want Christ to I want to want Christ? Beware of anything that circumvents the desire of God or seems to satisfy the desire of God in the sense of quashing it.

If you come across anything that makes you desire God less, then you're not dealing with God. And there's something to really watch out for.

Because if it is true that God is a being of three persons, one being of literally infinite love and good to the things that he has made, then any time that we feel like we grasp him, like he's in a box that we can contain, that we understand God,

that our desire for him is satisfied, we have by definition limited the illimitable God. Any time that we grasp God and pull him down to our level, we're not dealing with the true God anymore.

So beware of anything that satisfies and settles the desire for God. Faith itself is the longing for God. So seek out those things which make you want God more, because that's what faith is all about.

I suppose I'm kind of on a soapbox, but I will refrain from going on a soapbox about AI. I will not do that, but I would be wary about asking questions about faith to AI.

Because AI will give you the best answer that a human being could ever possibly give you, and in so doing, stop your curiosity and end the search.

That is destructive to the life of faith, because there is a sacred space between question and response. And in that place, God fosters a desire for himself.

And so we have these machines now, these intelligences that answer our questions and satisfy our desire for God. And then we go away happy, but the longing for Christ has been quenched. I want Christ, and I want to want Christ.

So as we finish, if you're in stage one of desire, I want, your life is just dominated by all the things that you want. You could make a list of everything that you want. I pray that God would give you the gift of disillusionment.

Disillusionment is a good thing when you think that it means to dismantle an illusion. It was an illusion in the first place. The fact that you want these things, the fact that they could satisfy was an illusion.

So that God would disillusion you with the things of this world, may the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

If you're in stage 2 of desire that you want Christ, may you know the power of his resurrection that is more transformative than you could ever dream and may you know the participation of his suffering that is meaningful and redeems every moment of

your life. If you're in stage 3 of desire that you want to want Christ more, then let me finish with verse 12.

Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

The Christian's faith in God does not finally rest on how much we want God, but on how much he wants us. Do you remember the parable of the lost sheep? The shepherd leaves the 99 to find the one and to bring them home.

So we are not held by our own strength and love for God, we are held by his love for us expressed in Christ. So allow his love to pull you in, allow him to make you want Christ more, and may you never stop wanting Christ more. As St.

Augustine said, put salt on our lips, O God, that we may thirst for you. We're going to sing now. And we're going to sing the same song that we sang just before, All I Want Is You.

We're going to sing that a lot of times. And maybe nothing has changed this second time that you sing it. That's okay.

But in singing it again, as the people of God, we put ourselves in the place where God might turn our hearts toward him. And we pray that he would.

We can't by direct effort want Christ more, but we will do the things that make us want to want Christ more, and pray that he would turn our hearts towards him. So would you stand? I'll pray for us, and then we can sing together.

God, we are a room full of humans, and to be human is to want. And God, we confess that we want so many things. Not all bad things, but not all good things.

Most of all, God, we confess that we don't want you with all of our heart. We thank you for your grace.

We thank you that our standing before you does not finally rest on our own shoulders, but on your grace, that you wanted us so much, Jesus, that you crossed heaven and earth to be with us, to bring us back home.

So would your love draw us to yourself now? Put salt on our lips, oh God, that we may thirst for you. And as we sing these words, we kind of call ourselves to a deeper level of faith.

We go beyond ourselves in praying that all we want is you. Please, God, by your grace, would you make that true? Would you turn our hearts towards you? In Jesus' name, amen.