The Christian Bucket List; Philippians

May the mumbling commence!

In the past eight days, we have exhausted at the very least the surface levels of the concept of Christian joy in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  It is no wonder that many people think this letter should be given the subtitle of REJOICE.  I agree whole-heartedly.

Today, I want to look carefully at Paul’s wish in Philippians chapter three.  We need to ask ourselves, “What do I most want to do?”  Read from the NIV translation this passage from Philippians chapter three:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, 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. (Verses 10-14)

So, here it is… Paul’s bucket list.

1.     I want to know Christ.  (Indeed, Paul gave up many things that he formerly considered valuable in his attempt to know Christ.)

2.     I want to know the power of Christ’s resurrection.  (Paul’s greatest knowledge of the power of Christ’s resurrection was the blinding light and vision that he had on the way to Damascus.  It changed his life.)

3.     I want to fellowship in the sufferings of Christ.  (Paul wanted to suffer for the sake of Jesus.  He had caused many to suffer and die for the sake of Christ.  Undoubtedly, many of his friends and colleagues afflicted Paul when he converted to the Way of Christ.)

4.     I want to become like Jesus in his death.  (That is a morbid thought – becoming like Christ in his death.  But Paul did not fear death.  He knew what awaited him in his death.  He welcomed the idea of being reunited with Christ Jesus and his heavenly Father.  Paul did not steer away from potential death that came along as he preached the Good News of Christ.)

5.     I want to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  (Paul embraced a new way of life after his Damascus Road encounter.  In many ways, Paul had received a new life and had already been resurrected from the dead.)

Now that’s a weighty list.  Do we need to shoot for such a lofty set of goals?  Paul anticipates this line of thought and tries to impress the journey-like nature of these goals.  Paul knows that he has come nowhere near obtaining these things.  Paul knows that he will never attain these goals.  The idea he presents is to press on toward these goals.

So leave behind your ways of the past.  Strain forward to the Way of Christ ahead of you.  It is the prize that we are called heavenward in Jesus. 

Where is heaven, though?  It is not some vague place up there in the sky, though it includes the sky.  Heaven is a way of living in the light of Jesus – inspired by the Holy Spirit of the living God.  Heaven is all around us.  Let us discover it together as the Spirit leads us and as Jesus holds our hands.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out