08-10-08 #Disciple Bible Study titled: “A Life of Hope”

[Disciple]

“LIVING THE HD LIFE”
“A Life of Hope”
Philippians 3
Intro.
Would you be interested in a hope that doesn’t disappoint?
We are all ‘hopers’. I suppose it is natural that we hope. We put our hope in different things. We are always hoping. And so very often we are disappointed because we did not get what we had hoped for. It seems at times that hope almost inevitably brings disappointment.
Ill- Perhaps we can relate to the story of anew graduate accountant was hoping to secure a job with a prestigious accounting firm. He was hoping for a cushy salary with a lot of perks so he would be able to live comfortable. He was being interviewed and was asked, “What kind of salary were you thinking about?” He said, “In the neighborhood of $100,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.” The interviewer said, “Well, what would you say to $200,000 a year, a package of 5 weeks vacation, full medical and dental coverage, company retirement fund up to 50% of your salary, Executive Share Option Scheme, profit related pay, and a company car leased every 2 years. Say a 5 series BMW?” The young man sat straight up in his chair and said, “Wow, are you kidding?” The interviewer said, “Yes, but you started it.”

We have all put our hope in a variety of things. We hope to make the team. We hope we get into the college we want. We hope we get that particular job. We hope to get married and we hope we have kids. We hope the kids will finally leave the house. We hope we have enough to retire.
We didn’t make the team. Our job is much less than we expected. Our marriage turns out to be anything but spectacular. We retired and now we’ve known nothing but sickness. We’re fed up with the kids.
But sometimes even though we get what we hoped for, we still end up disappointed. If you put all your hope in those things disappointment will still find you.
Ill- John Cheever says the number one emotion experienced by people is disappointment.

I. Where Is Your Hope?
Many times the greatest of our hopes end in disappointment. I asked earlier if you would be interested in a hope that does not disappoint. The apostle Paul talks about such a hope.
Romans 5:5
When our hope is placed in the Lord that hope will never disappoint us because we know that God loves us and that love of his will keep what he has promised us.
Phil. 3:1
It is amazing how many times we read this word ‘rejoice’ or ‘joy’ in this book.
Yet I wonder, “How can Paul rejoice in the cir***stances in which he finds himself?” He is in prison. His execution could come at any time. Yet he is rejoicing and he tells his readers to rejoice in the Lord. There is something I want you to consider about joy in the book of Philippians. Here is joy in spite of potential problems and difficulties. In fact, as you look through this book of Philippians, read especially close at every time the word joy or rejoice is used and you will discover that the context of joy always mentions some difficulty.
So how can Paul rejoice? Why is Paul rejoicing? Paul is able to rejoice because he has put his hope in the right place, in the right person. There is a warning seen in v. 2-3 about putting hope in the wrong things.
Phil. 3:2-3
In Philippi there was a group called Judaizers. Paul here calls them ‘dogs’. They taught basically that Jesus was good but not good enough to save. According to their teachings one need to become a Jew. They taught one needed to keep the teachings of the Jewish law, especially cir***cision.
That’s why Paul uses the phrase, ‘beware of the concision.’ He is warning these Philippian Christians about putting their hope in something other than Jesus Christ for salvation. Let me say it this way. “When someone tells you that you need Jesus, but you also need something else, a red flag should go up. Be warned that is a false teaching.
Don’t put your hope in the wrong things/places.
II. Where Paul Did Not Put His Hope
Paul writes this section of Scripture like one who had every reason to put hope in the things of the world. Before we think about Paul’s list, let’s think about your list and my list. Where are you putting your hope for tomorrow? Where is your hope for a secure future? Where is your hope for eternal life?
Phil 3:4-6
Paul did not hope in being brought up the right way. He was cir***cised the 8th day. In the O.T., God instructed his people to cir***cise their sons on the 8th day to show their faith was in the God of Israel. It was a ritual, a ceremony. The child had no say. It wasn’t a personal choice and decision. Many were sprinkled as infants. Parents wanted you to start life with a commitment to the Lord. But understand that baptism is about making a personal choice and decision of what you personally are going to do with Jesus Christ. Don’t put up in rituals and ceremonies.
Paul did not hope in being born into the right family. He was born into the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the only son of Jacob born in the Promised Land. Saul, the first king of Israel was from Benjamin. Being of the tribe of Benjamin seems to have had special significance. It would be like saying today that you are a relative of George Washington, our first President.
Paul did not hope in having achieved the right credentials. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. In Paul’s day there were never more than 300 Pharisees and he says was at the top of the list. Sometimes we put hope in positions we hold and what we accomplish.
Paul did not hope in keeping all the rules and regulations. He says when it came to legalistic righteousness he was faultless. There were about 613 laws that the people were required to keep. Did you know that if a chicken laid an egg on the Sabbath day that egg could not be eaten because it constituted work?
Don’t put your hope in keeping a list of rules. Some look at going to church, praying, reading the Bible, giving, as rules and regulations to keep and the more I do the more I secure my way into heaven. That’s false hope.
Now look at the way Paul describes what he had done that once he had hoped in.
Phil 3:7-8
Paul says all those things of the flesh and the world are ‘dung’. This is a word used on here in the N.T. The Greek word is ‘skubala’. It is a very strong word. Not really a church word. NIV translates as ‘rubbish’. Contemporary English Version has ‘garbage’. The Message paraphrases it is a ‘dog dung’. I think you can get the general idea of this word and Paul’s attitude toward those things in which he once had hoped.
Another word to consider here is the word ‘compared’. Maybe there is nothing wrong with some of the things we hope in. But here is Paul’s point. When we compare these things to the value of knowing Jesus Christ, they are useless, worthless, rubbish.
What has become too valuable to you? When you compare those things you value and hope in the most to Jesus Christ and knowing him, how valuable are they?

III. Where We Need To Put Our Hope
Looking through the rest of chapter 3, we can point out three places we need to put our hope.
Our relationship with Jesus Christ.- v.10- That I may know him
It was for ‘the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus’ that Paul said he considered everything else as loss, rubbish.
Note that two words stand out to express knowing Christ. He talks about ‘power’ and ‘fellowship’. Power reminds us of the power of God to make Jesus victorious over death. Fellowship talks about ‘sharing’ and specifically sharing in his sufferings.
The power of the resurrection from death.- v. 10 and the power of his resurrection.
Let’s remember that this world is not the end of the story.
Ill- Perhaps some will remember Vice-Admiral James Stockdale. He was shot down over enemy territory, Sept. 9, 1965. He was captured and held prisoner for 7 years. He was the highest ranking naval officer to be held as prisoner during the Vietnam War. He was routinely beaten and tortured. He was interviewed by James Collins for a book titled, “Good To Great”. He explained how he was able to endure the terrible ordeal of mistreatment as a prisoner of war. He said, “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining even of my life, which in retrospect, I would not trade.”
Don’t lose faith in the end of the story. Its resurrection from the dead.
Heavenly citizenship-
Phil 3:20
This is the memory verse for this week.
Philippi was a Roman colony and those citizens of Philippi were also citizens of Rome. Wherever a Philippian went he enjoyed the rights and privileges of a Roman citizen. He would spread the Roman culture.
Here’s the parallel. Those who are in Christ, wherever we are, whatever our cir***stances, we are citizens of heaven. Because we are citizens of heaven, we have the confident assurance of a wonderful transformation. Our lowly bodies will someday be transformed into the very likeness of Jesus’ own glorious body.
Conc.
There are many things in this life and world that may have some value and worth, but when you compare them to knowing Christ Jesus, they are absolutely worthless.
So don’t focus on those things we have accomplished. Don’t focus on the things we possess. The challenge for us is to put our hope in what is still to come for us.
Our hope for heaven is not wishful thinking. It is a confident assurance.
Do you have this hope today?