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Brothers Loved by God

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

October 18, 2026

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

1 Thessalonians 1:1–10 (ESV)

¹ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. ² We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, ³ remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶ And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷ so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. ⁸ For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. ⁹ For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Today we move away from Philippi and head north to the capital of Macedonia, Thessalonica. Thessalonica is an important city not only is it the capital but is was a free city, and remains even today as the second largest city in modern Greece. Interestingly the city is named after it’s founder’s wife, who happened to be the sister of Alexander the Great. This is a city that is different from Philippi because this is a port city, where Philippi was settled inland. This city also had a large Jewish population where Philippi did not. And unlike Philippi this city did have some issues that Paul needed to address.

In Philippians there really were not major moral failings for Paul to speak against. So he provided general guidance and warnings. He encouraged them to love one another, to continue being generous and to remember that we have grace not because of the things we did, but because God loved us first.

Thessalonica is different. It is a free city, which means that it is subject to Rome, but is not governed by it. This is how Judea was under Herod the great, it was subject to but not directly ruled by Rome. To be a free city has some benefits as well as some draw backs. A benefit is that you can make your own laws and print your own money, Generally you are your own nation and yet you are not fully independent. You remain free under certain conditions. You keep the peace.

In the empire, their main concern was to keep the people quiet. They did not want people upset or excited. As long as no one made a sound of protest or became too arrogant you were fine. But if Rome began to hear stories in the empirical court about a free city, they would send a legion to bring it back into compliance. Judea did not keep quiet. Judea had this independent streak. This was fine under Herod because Herod the great was a tyrant, he kept the people quiet and prevented Rome from hearing about that province. But when Herod died things began to change. Herod was known to be a master builder. He built a Temple for the Jewish God. He built fortresses and palaces. He made Judea into something to have pride in. When he died, there was not a clean line of succession. He had too much power, too much wealth, Rome needed to put Israel into its proper place, so they broke Herod’s puppet kingdom up among the sons, and placed a Roman governor over the main city.

Macedonia was similar to Israel. It had pride. This is the birth place of Alexander the Great and where he the Hellenistic conquest began. It was from Macedonia, this northern most province of Greece, that Greek language and culture was spread throughout the world. When we think of Greece we often do not think of Macedonia, we think of Athens and Sparta. Macedonia is like a third of fourth after thought, and yet it was Macedonia that took Greek influence beyond the Aegean out into Africa and Asia.

Because of this rich history Thessalonica needed to be careful. They could not draw too much attention to themselves because if they did Rome might over react. They might see them as reestablishing their former glory making them a direct threat to the peace of Rome. This is the society that Paul found himself in when he first visited this city on his missionary journeys.

Paul came to this city and as was his custom, he went to the synagogues and began to teach. Needless to say, his teaching sparked some controversy. People began to listen to Paul, both Jewish people and Greeks. They began converting to his way of thinking. They turned away from the gods of Thessalonica, and they began to proclaim Christ as their king.

As with many free port cities, there were many temples and many gods to be worshiped. And there are things to remember about the Greek gods that we do not often consider. All too often we think of the polytheistic religions as seeking divine favor, this is sometimes the case, but more often than not it is not favor they seek. Instead they did not want the gods to divert any attention to them at all. They wanted to keep the gods only close enough to not cause trouble, yet far enough away as to not attract attention. If your community attracted the attention of the gods, you might be called upon to fight in some war, or worse be a major site for the religious cult. But being a Roman free city, they also needed to keep another personality at bay, the emperor. The easiest way to keep an emperor from looking too closely at a community was to make a temple devoted to the emperor, and to make sure that the priests of that temple were well maintained.

Paul comes to this city. This port city with temples devoted to Aphrodite, Artemis. Poseidon, and the Caesar. The city of Philippi did not have the diversity of religious devotion that the Thessalonians had. You did not want too much attention but you also did not want to neglect attention. This community of diverse religions would have lavish activities at each of the temples to attract attention from the population, and much of the lavishness usually manifested itself carnally. When we look at the letters that Paul wrote to the churches you will notice that in most, whenever there are discussion of sexual immorality that community has a strong devotion to a goddess. The Ephesians were devoted to Artemis, and had the largest temple to that fertility goddess in the empire. Corinth was devoted to Aphrodite. Both letters to this church focused a great deal of attention to discipline our carnal desires. Thessalonians is similar. They too have devotion to the goddess of fertility, child birth, and the herds. They too devote much energy to the goddess of passion and lust. They too devote themselves to the deity of wine and chaos. They too devote much of their energy to fulfilling the carnal nature of humanity. They do this because they are a port city.

The port cities are often devoted to these things because the people coming into port have had the pleasures of life restricted while they were confined on a ship. They yearn for a good meal, they long for a strong drink, they want to just let loose for a while without any cares because while they are on that ship everything must be held in strict discipline or people will die. But most of all they lusted for human contact.

The Thessalonians met those needs. And they make a great deal of money in the process. Then Paul comes to town, preaching about Jesus. And the teachings of Jesus directly oppose much of the teaching of their society. And he goes as far as saying that Jesus is king.

This one statement is probably the one thing a free city in the Empire dreaded to hear. In their culture there is no king, no leader other than Caesar. People have asked me why the Romans even cared that some preacher at the edge of the empire was gaining attention, the reason Rome took an interest in Jesus was not because of his teachings. The reason they cared was that he did not deny that he was the King of the Jews. There can only be one emperor, only one king. And in Thessalonica they wanted to make sure that the priests in the Emperor’s temple knew that they only had one king, so they threw Paul out of their city.

This did not prevent the gospel from spreading throughout the city, Paul left but the people he met remained. He sent Timothy back and Timothy returned to Paul speaking about how the church, how the assembly of the followers of Christ were doing. And that report is what prompted this letter.

“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.”

We rarely write letters today. And even when we did write letters, we rarely begin a letter like Paul begins his. But this was proper letter writing in ancient times. This first verse is the address, who is sending the letter and to whom it is sent. I have often wondered about that. I have sat thinking about this letter going out to the church and wondered if the scroll was rolled in such a way that the entire content of the letter was covered and just this first verse was visible on the outside, like a envelope. I think about weird things. But this was the proper way to write a letter in that time.

From, to, blessing.

We do not think much about that opening, but there is something important here. This letter is sent from Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy. Notice it is sent by three people. When Paul writes a letter to a church, it is usually sent by multiple people, with a couple exceptions Ephesians and Romans. This tells us something. The Church is sending the letter to the Church. It is not just one person’s ranting on a subject, but it is the consensus of the church.

But there are times where Paul send a letter only from himself. Like the letters to Timothy and Titus. These are important letters, but these letters are more personal. They are the advise of a wise master given to a student, not necessarily something that has been discussed among the elders and decreed to the larger church.

Which leaves the exceptions of Romans and Ephesians. Why did Paul send those letters from just himself? I really do not know, but my guess is that Paul wrote them to defend his personal standing among the leaders of the church, it is more of a personal testimony than a decree.

The church is sending this letter to the Thessalonians, the apostles Paul, Silas, and Timothy have been praying and discussing how to encourage the people living within this community. And they are in agreement.

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.”

In just a few short verses, these three leaders of the church, have done a great deal. They have shown us Christian discipline. We give thanks, for You. We constantly mention you. We pray for you.

Gratitude, selflessness and prayer. These are very important disciplines for each of us to participate in. This is something often missing within our culture. We live in such a consumeristic society that it is difficult to be thankful for what we have, for who we are, and most of all thankful for those around us. Instead we are constantly informed of the things we do not have, and reminded of how amazing life would be if we only had this one product that could be ours with five easy payments of $29.95. We are reminded every day that our bodies are not exactly the greatest example of our species. And if we would just lose a few pounds, we might be more acceptable. And we are reminded of what we are missing out on because of our life choices.

We give thanks to God always for you. Paul and the others are not thinking about themselves, they are giving thanks to God for the people of Thessalonica. When they enter into that time of personal devotion to God, they are not only praying about all of their personal problems, their financial situation, or their health they are mentioning their thankfulness for this group of believers that live in that port city of Macedonia that had run them out of town. They want them to be filled with love for one another that they would work diligently to show that love to the people around them, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Can you imagine if we as a church received a letter like this from three of our most respected leaders. Not just a letter seeking a contribution, but one that said we thank God for all the things you are doing right there in your community. We think it is awesome.

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” Not only do they thank God for them, but they have a pet name. “Brothers loved by God”. I quickly looked through the other letters Paul sent out, he does not address the other churches like this. He speaks of them well and with grace yes, but he does not call them brothers loved by God like it is some team nickname. But they have this nickname for the church in Thessalonica. They are the Brother loved by God.

Why do they get that name? Of course we are all siblings in Christ, but the people of Thessalonica needed this assurance. They eagerly embraced the gospel but the Jewish religious leaders rose up against Paul and drove him out of the city. And of those first to believe in that city was a man named Jason. When the crowds came demanding Paul to come out to face them, Jason stood firm protecting Paul and he stood trial in Paul’s place. This is a city that knew self sacrifice because they eagerly stood where Paul stood and they faced the fury of religious self-righteousness. Yet did Paul hold a grudge? Were they still accepted even though their community reacted in such a manner? “Brothers Loved by God.” You are not only accepted but you are chosen.

You have stood in the place that I stand. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

They stood where Paul stands. They suffered as Paul suffered. They had to make, in front of the religious and the pagan, a declaration of their faith mere moments after they believed. And they took that message out to the surrounding villages and community. They became the example for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

I thought about that term, “Brothers loved by God.” I thought about Jason who brought Paul and his companions into his home while the city filled with devotees of every temple including the Jewish people from the synagogue pounded on his door demanding the man that turned the world upside down to be released to them. And the amount of faith that it took to stay steadfast in the face of danger.

Would we stand? Would we speak with a voice that is seemingly overpowered by the voices of a mob? Would we open our homes up to the very people that seem to be turning our entire society upside down?

That is the power of the gospel, the reality of the risen Lord. Jesus came to live among humanity. The one that created all things that were created left the throne of heaven to be born of a young girl, from a town in the middle of nowhere. That young girl became the greatest woman among women and for thousands of years we praise her faith, and say blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. She bore God, the creator of the universe held and knitted together in a womb. And was born as a helpless infant. The entire story is just ridiculous and yet compelling. Jesus grew within that community. He grew a member of the family and part of the larger community. He worked, worshiped, shared meals, wept, and laughed with his community. And then after he met his cousin at the river he went out into the wilderness for a month, and when he returned he began to teach.

And what he taught did turn the world upside down. Love your enemies. Do good for those that persecute you. Do not act like the leaders of the gentiles who lord it over them, but instead become a servant to all. He told us to stop thinking about ourselves and start building the community up for each other. And that threatened the kingdoms of the world.

The gospel threatens anyone and everyone that wants power because it tells us that to desire such a thing will send you to hell. And it will. Because when we take the power, when we take the knowledge of good and evil on ourselves instead of letting God give us that knowledge in his own time that is just what we will make of the world. We choose who has and who has not. And then we wonder why people get upset. Jesus said do not live like that. Instead give. Love God with everything and your neighbor with everything else.

Jason heard that message and it filled him with a power beyond himself. He stood in front of a city, in front of a government official that held his very life in his hands and Jason did not back down. He instead stood up for justice and truth.

The entire city was devoted to goddess and emperor worship, and Jason stood devoted to the teachings of Jesus. He stood as a Brother Loved by God, against the forces that opposed the ways of God.

Will we stand? Will we look at what is occurring in our community and speak up? Will we look at the injustice and stand in the place of the other because we know it is the right thing to do even if the entire city is against us? Will we become a people so devoted to living the love of Jesus with others that people on the other side of the empire will write letters thanking us for our faithfulness?

I close today with the ninth query of the Faith and Practice. Do you exercise your rights and duties as a citizen to vote, to fulfill jury duty, and in other ways to bring Christian influence in all levels of government? Do we bring a Christian influence? I want us to center on that word because I believe it to be the key of this query. Are we living our lives, are the words that we speak, and the things we support bringing a Christian influence? Will the people around us see Caesar or Christ? Let us become an example for the world to see, an example of the loving brother and cherished friend.

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Misplaced Confidence

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

October 04, 2026

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Philippians 3:4–14 (ESV)

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:”

We meet Paul again in his letter to the Philippians. Remember that this is a group of people that is passionate about their faith. They are actively participating, they are supporting the ministries within their own community and are even enabling the ministry of other, like Paul, in their missionary journeys. This is important to remember. Even early in the church, within the first church of Europe, which would eventually grow into what is known as Christian-dom, or the Western church, people were actively praying for and providing resources toward the expansion of the gospel.

Paul did not have a single thing to say to this church that was negative. You might think, if there was nothing negative, what was all that last week? There were some things within their cultural framework that could potentially limit the progression of the growing Kingdom influence.

By most standards, Philippi was a comfortable, potentially considered wealthy, community. They were situated near the coast, but not on the coast. This gave them access to regional trade, without the problems that having a port might bring in. And this was a community that was settled by retire soldiers. Soldiers honorably discharged were given a sizable parting income, which throughout much of the empirical period included a parcel of land. And a community that had a significant population consisting of these retired soldiers, would have an upper middle class to wealthy economy. They had financial means, they had land to grow their own wealth, and they had one more thing that many that populated the empire did not have, citizenship.

This word is a hot topic in our contemporary era. We think of it being extremely important and for most of us we did nothing to gain that label. Citizenship in Rome was different. There was birthright citizenship, but this was not common. This was something that was largely only for those that were born into the ruling class of people, the elites. These were the people that served in the government, were representatives in the senate, and occupied the various governor residences within the territories. This would represent, what today would be the top one percent of the population. What about the rest of the people? The vast majority were slaves. One could become a slave in a variety of ways. You could have been a captured enemy combatant. Maybe, you were in financial ruin and the only option was to sell yourself in to slavery, or maybe you were just born that way. Slave were a significant part of the population, but there was another group, the merchants, or the freemen. This was a group of people that caused the ruling class to worry. They were not citizen and they were not slaves. They were not allowed to participate in society outside of trade, yet much of the laws that were enacted were instituted to manage and control them. They would give these freemen just enough liberty to keep them happy, just enough financial assistance to keep them quiet, and just enough opportunity to keep them occupied. But they did not want them to get any ideas that might threaten the status quo.

Philippi was a town that had a high number of citizens. It was basically a community of citizens and slaves. Not much in between, because the merchants lived around the ports, or were skilled tradesmen that worked in the markets. This community was filled with people that had the one thing most other comminutes lacked, it was a community of citizens.

Paul writes to this community of people, and he reminds them that they must do nothing out of selfishness, or conceit. That we should regard others better than ourselves. He reminds them of this because it is easy to forget that there is a human life at the other end of our policies. It is too easy to regard people as a faceless group instead of them as unique image bearers like ourselves. And when we dehumanize and marginalize humanity, it becomes easy to make decisions that only benefit the group we consider most important. Paul is warning them, not because it is happening right now. No he is warning them because it can happen, he has seen it happen before, and he earnestly prays that it will not happen with this community.

Yet they are prideful. And according to the standards of the world they have every right to have that pride. In their culture they have it all, but Paul is telling them that their confidence is misplaced.

I think, at times, we do not realize the unique aspects of our spiritual heritage. In most ancient cultures, their identities seem to get swallowed up within the cultural mainstream. The things that once made them unique tend to almost vanish. Little things might remain. Language is one aspect of culture that might remain within certain regions, perhaps some skilled art in weaving or pottery. But it is often difficult to distinguish a clear division between one culture and another. If you were to ask most people what the difference between a Russian and Ukrainian were they would be unable to tell you. Or what is the difference between an American and someone from Canada? And for most of us, we could not begin to distinguish the differences between the peoples of Asia, unless they happen to have snacks and Pokémon. But the Hebrew people were able to maintain some cultural heritage even while living in exile.

There are many factors to this. The largest is that God promised that a remnant would remain to the end. But there is something more. The Greek culture found them to be a curiosity. They were so different from the Greek people, and yet they held respect for them. They for centuries held this manner of thinking that had survived where so many other systems of thought disappeared beneath the sands of time. How many of us know who the gods of Nineveh are? The only reason we know of the Egyptian pantheon is because of the Rosetta Stone, and we know of Roman and Greek thought because they sort of merged into one. The Romans and the Greeks had similarities that just seem to fit well together, we often consider Greek and Roman mythology as the same thing with different names. But the people of Israel did not get swallowed by the surrounding culture. Its amazing if you think about it.

They were this curiosity, they presented a philosophy that was similar in part yet vastly different to that of the Greeks. Why did the Greeks allow them to persist? They were curious. They saw the ancient history, the long held ritualistic heritage, and the intense discipline, and the Greek thinkers invited them to the discussion. They did not necessarily agree, but they enjoyed the conversation. This is the whole idea of the university, that was championed by the Greek culture. The sharing of ideas, the debate among the details, and the liberty to make an informed decision. That is as much our heritage as anything else. That is the culture democracy and the republic was crafted upon.

But there was another idea in the mix also. One of dominance and power. The idea that might is right. This was also present in aspects of Greek culture, because there was many little city states, and at times different ones held the power. And for that time, the voice of the victor carried the most weight within the discussion. Philippi was a city in the Greek provinces, dominated by Rome yet still holding parts of that Greek culture. It is in this unique and slightly confusing place we find Paul today.

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.”

Paul is pulling at the ideas of might is right. He is capitalizing on the Greek romance with ancient thinking as part of the debate, and he is at the same time teaching them the early theology of Christ.

“[C]ircumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.” He is letting them know his story. He is of this ancient group that has had strict traditions that were ancient even to their contemporary era. He was circumcised in those customs. And he was of the tribe of Benjamin.

The mention of this tribe has always made me wonder. Why did it matter? Saul the first king of Israel was of the line of Benjamin. And Benjamin’s tribe, because of the grace David showed to Johnathan’s offspring, became the most zealous defenders of David’s Dynasty. Think for a moment about the various special operation forces we have in our defense department, the rangers, seals, marines. Each has their own specialty and skill. In Israel, they had Benjamin, the sole tribe that remained loyal to Judah even when all the others rebelled against them and divided the kingdom.

Paul is saying, I am part of that elite group. I am a member of the special force, the loyal tribe, the tribe that held the first royal line, and fierce defended the second royal family because David was gracious. But that heritage was not the only thing that was important. “As to the law,” Paul says, “a Pharisee”. This meets the Greek university thinkers. He is not merely someone with ancient roots, he has an education, he has learning. He can hold his own in a debate, and he brings with him the citations to prove his point.

“As to zeal,” he continues, “a persecutor of the church.” He was not only educated he was willing to defend his stance and take down anyone that opposed it. He was given a mandate to seek out and hunt those that participated and spread the teachings of the church, and he did it gladly. “As to righteousness under the law, blameless.” Again this reaches across the cultural barrier and confronts the teachings of not only the righteous among the people of Hebrew, but also to the Greek philosophers. The people of Israel were not the only people who sought to live ethical and moral lifestyles. Greek writers composed volumes on ethics. They created schools promoting stoicism, they created cults dedicated to the study of geometry and finding the fingerprints of God in the created order. Paul was blameless. He no matter which way you looked or which school of philosophical discipline you held, you could not look at Paul’s life and lifestyle and find fault.

Paul was a good man. He had every right to think of himself as good, and to top it all off he too was a citizen of Rome, just like them. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Our English translations have softened Paul’s words at this point. Paul calls all the things that he has confidence in. All the things that the world has confidence in waste. It is literally manure, or fecal material left in the stable after the horses eat their daily oats.

Everything we hold as important is the same. What lasting value is the title of manager after I retire? It is great until that store goes bankrupt. As long as we have power our status remains relevant but the moment we lose power, we are just an irrelevant footnote in history. How many Pharoses are honored in Egypt? We know a few but they are not honored, they are paraded around for tourists to raise money, the once great living gods of the Nile, are nothing more than a street corner act. Their greatness is muck in the stalls of history. What about the kings of Europe? We only know of a couple, and are not all that impressed.

But who is remembered? We remember even after the sands of history the leaders and saints that did not regard status. When Christmas comes we sing of good king Wenceslas that went walking on the feast of Stephen. The funny thing about that is he was not even a king, but a duke. We remember him because he went out in the winter snows to make sure the people of his duchy had supplies. We remember with cheer the leaders, the ministers, the saints and ordinary people the took time for us. We remember the people that made sacrifices so that we could move forward.

Everything I have done, the degrees I obtained, the positions I held. No one really cares. Except for the people that where watching, or received some act of service. I have had several teachers from school, I only remember a few well. And it is not because they were easy, in fact they were some of the teachers I hated at the time. Mr. Boyd that always pushed me to do more. Mr. Douglas because he would never let me go one week without having to spell everything right. Mr. Ginther and his weird mannerisms yet passion for science. These teachers invested their life into mine.

Paul says everything I have done for my own benefit is manure, its waste sitting in the stable. It is chewed up, digested, and expelled. Except those things that brought him closer to Christ.

Why do we even know Paul? Is it because of his zeal for persecuting the church? Or his heritage? No we only know of him because he traveled the Roman Empire, planted churches, and wrote a bunch of letters? He sacrificed his reputation, his career, his very life for what? We know Stephen, we know James the brother of Jesus. We know Francis even outside of Catholic circles, why? They gave up all they had, and they invested it all into the lives of people for the sake of Christ.

Here Paul is, saying everything he has ever worked for is a stinking pile of rubbish, and we are reading one of his letters over a thousand years later.

What would drive a man like this, if he does not gain anything for himself? “That I may know him and the power of the resurrection, and may share his suffering, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of from the dead.” He wants to know Christ.

He wants to know Christ because there is something about Jesus that crosses cultural barriers and challenges everything we thought we knew. If you were to sit down and read the words of Jesus’ teaching honestly, how many of us can say we meet the standard? Love your enemy? Do good to those that persecute you? Welcoming the stranger?

Paul tells this group of believers, this group of well-to-do, citizens of Rome, that he is just like them. And he knows none of that matters. Where we were born does not matter. Our political party does not matter. Our degree, our marital status, our career. It does not matter unless we devote it to Christ and use what is available to us to encourage those around us open up to the whispers of God’s Spirit in their lives. “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and staining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

To Paul, the only thing to strive toward is the thing that brought you to the feet of Christ. It is our weakness, our passions, our hopes, and our sorrows. Why do I stand here today? It is probably because I prayed at one time that God would give me the strength to speak once twenty-five years ago, when I had to stand before the class and give a speech. He met me in my weakness, and in him, I found the strength. Or it might be that I prayed once for comfort when my soul was crying out, why! The night twenty-nine years ago when my little sister was laying in a hospital be with machines keeping her alive. I remember that night praying for comfort and strength, I prayed for knowledge if she was going to have earthly healing or if she would go to his arms. And I felt comfort within my chest, knowing that she was with him and I did not need to fear.

I can list many stories, I could list people, and places. I can list many things, but still to this day I do not know why I am here. I can tell you why I should not be easier than why I should. And that is the point Paul is making. It is not about what I have done. Yes, I still strive to know God more deeply, but everything I do is like a blunder that somehow landed right side up. Do not think I am perfect, Paul says. Do not think for a moment that I have it all together. But if you do look at me, know this. I am seeking Christ and I will press on toward that with everything that I have because that is all that matters. Jesus saw Paul within the righteousness and zeal of Saul, and Jesus called that out. Jesus heard a voice in a boy that barely spoke a word, and now that voice speaks weakly, or weekly depending on the day. Press on to that prize, the prize of Christ, who did not believe that equality with God was something that could be taken or forced, but became obedient, submitting himself even unto death. He submitted so that we could rise with him. And he is calling out to each of us.

Where or in what are we putting our confidence in? And is it something you would like to step into?

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