You guys will know I’m a footy fan, AFL footy in particular, and obviously there was an important game last weekend and the Lions achieved an incredible ‘three-peat,’ winning 3 grand finals in a row. I have not known a team other than the Brisbane Lions to win a grand final since I’ve been here with you, not a bad stat!
But of course on the other side of that incredible achievement there’s always a losing team, while one team enjoys euphoric celebration the losing team is of course experiencing more the opposite, wondering what could have been and even shedding a tear or two – a rare time you see grown men shedding tears, in the aftermath of a grand final!
The Fremantle Dockers were that team last weekend of course – we were staying with family for my Dad’s 60th at a caravan park in Adelaide and the crowd was largely sympathetic to poor old Freo, it was a bit flat after the game as you can imagine! I saw on TV as well some contrasting images, one of jubilant celebration at Felons Brewery in Brisbane city there and one of the main street of Fremantle, town painted purple but hundreds of people just standing still, not sure what to do with themselves – a hard watch!
So in the midst of those contrasting emotions, what do we make of all that?
We see both jubilant celebration and stunned silence, what do we make of that as Christian people looking out at the world around us, observing what goes on, seeing how supporting a footy team can mean so much to so many people. Maybe you noticed some of that, maybe it hasn’t even ‘come across your desk’ so to speak. A really interesting snapshot of the human experience, all tied to a game of footy!
Our experience, as Christian people, is tied to something else.
Our identity is tied to something else isn’t it, even if we happen to be footy fans as well.
Our experience, our identity is tied to Jesus, to faith in him.
This is why I find it so interesting to compare footy and faith > for some people it looks like their faith is in their footy team, there’s actually almost a spiritual element going on there, people are that invested in it! And with that comes the riding of highs and lows, the highs if you’re a Lions supporter and the lows if you’re on the Freo end of the spectrum.
So there’s some comparison, some imagery to get us thinking this morning > now we turn to see what Paul says about faith, what he says about ‘pressing on towards the goal to win the prize,’ what he says about how faith really works.
What is Paul saying to us this morning as we hear these words from Philippians?
He talks about ‘having confidence in the flesh,’ as in having confidence in ourselves and our own goodness, effort, status or achievement.
And he says if there’s anyone who can have confidence in the flesh, it’s him! He lists off some of his reasons based on the law, the customs of his people in his time.
But then it turns, there’s a major shift: clearly Paul is NOT saying that we should have confidence in the flesh, but actually it’s quite the opposite.
‘Whatever were gains to me’ he says, ‘I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.’ That right there is how faith works. We can unpack that bit more, but that is how it works.
Paul is teaching us it’s NOT about faith in what we have or what we do, but faith in what GOD HAS and what GOD DOES.
And then he goes further, taking those ‘gains’ he mentioned earlier and calling them ‘garbage.’ That’s a pretty big leap isn’t it?! Is that like taking the premiership cup the Lions have just won and throwing it in the bin?? Not quite, it’s all well and good to celebrate hard-earned achievements in life, we should all do that it is a good thing to do!
But what Paul is saying is relating to who we are before God > we know we can’t earn anything before him, we can only have faith in him, faith in what HE HAS and what HE DOES.
So it’s not that ‘winners go to heaven and losers go to hell,’ that would be a horrible, judgmental framework to live by > how God sees us and how he values us are NOT tied to our worldly success, they’re tied to HIS ETERNAL VICTORY as we know, what he has already earned and freely given for us. That’s what Paul means by ‘righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.’
NOT the basis of my achievement, the basis of FAITH in what God has already done for me. That’s how faith really works.
Then comes this incredible line from Paul > ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’ Amazing line there.
What does that mean? How could we unpack this, what image could we use to help us understand this better >
We can use the image of the vine, the way God works through us.
The way he keeps us connected to him, the way we are connected to each other.
The way we are continually renewed and restored through hearing and learning God’s word, through receiving his good gifts together in community.
We’re NOT simply pressing on towards a goal, some target that we’ve set for ourselves that we think is important. It is very useful to know what’s important to us, and to set goals to work towards absolutely – but as we know there’s more to this life God’s given us than achieving or seeking to achieve goals.
We are part of the vine, which means we are connected.
We are part of God’s church, of God’s good work in the world – and there is work to be done isn’t there! We need to be renewed in our faith, we are called to share our faith with those who haven’t heard it or who aren’t already here with us on a Sunday morning.
This is a vine that GROWS, it MOVES, it is NOT stagnant.
Here my mind goes to being back in South Australia last week, where there are many literal vines growing and producing fruit. The significant wine industry there, a significant export and livelihood for many people.
But what if a vine stops growing, it stops producing fruit? Unfortunately there are people tearing up their vines down there at the moment, even considering growing different fruit altogether – not so much because of the vines themselves but more because of other financial factors impacting the region and the industry.
What if the product no longer fits the market, what if it seems people are no longer interested in what the vine has to offer? Challenging questions there, many responses to questions like that out there and suggested methods to deal with them, to provide solutions too.
Back to the vine that we’re part of > the product of this vine is what?
We can say the product of the church is meant to be the fruits of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit at work in the church and in the world. Those are products that ALWAYS fit the market, whether the market seems interested in them or not!
But the argument could be made that it’s hard to see these fruits, people ‘out there’ don’t know what’s going on in here. They don’t know what’s good about it, they don’t know why it matters, they have only seen a limited perspective of what being part of the vine is all about, and sadly people might not see a place for them within it, as part of that vine. I wonder if you know people who might identity with any of that, difficult things there.
So if that’s the case, then that means a few things for us:
If people ‘don’t know what’s good about church,’ what should we do?
Should we try to convince them that it is good, that they should be here, telling them what’s good about it until they finally get it?
Or… Could we make sure first and foremost that WE KNOW WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT. That WE KNOW WHY IT MATTERS.
If anyone else is going to know what’s good about church, the people already in the church have to know what’s good about it themselves. And part of ‘knowing what’s good’ about something is also having a view to knowing what’s not so good, even what could be seen as worse than not so good about it too. Being aware, being grounded in reality important parts of that of course.
What else does it mean, if people don’t even know about the fruits of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the incredible life-changing work of Jesus that means you and me can be called children of a loving, forgiving, generous, all-powerful God through all the joys and challenges life throws at us?
It means we have a responsibility, a calling, a vocation even to make sure WE DO KNOW.
That we know what the fruits of the Spirit are, how God works in us and in the world. We need to be aware of our own gifts, the gifts of the Spirit God has given to us, the people and opportunities he has put around us and called us to step into holding firm to our faith.
If we’re going to ‘press on toward the goal to win the prize’ as Paul says, we have to know first the part about ‘that which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’
He has done that first, he has taken hold of us, he has called us and made us his children by Jesus’ death and resurrection for us, that part has been done.
We receive that, we continue to receive and live in that good news, we share it with others. That’s the ‘pressing on’ part that we do. We receive and we respond, empowered and equipped by the Holy Spirit. Supported within a community of faith, here and across the networks we know and have been part of and stepping out in faith towards new people, people that were here before, people that have not been here yet. It’s in our DNA to do this work, for the vine we’re apart of to be MOVING and GROWING, to know and to own our own experience, to know intimately what our identity is tied to, what our faith is anchored in > the good news of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit who gives us strength and carries us through.
Lord we thank you for your good gifts, for the ultimate prize of being your child that you have already won for us and for those you put around us. Help us if we feel we don’t know enough, if we feel hurt or pain around our experiences and relationships. Remind us that faith depends not on us but on you, and you are right there with us. What you have done for us is what you have for us to live in, to share in and to grow in together. All these things we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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