Not Of This World

Philippians 3:20 – 4:1

Since the middle of April, the Sunday after Easter to be exact, we’ve

been exploring some of the characteristics of an authentic Christ-

centered, Christ-led community

-one central element of worship from the early first century until

today is the celebration of the Lord’s Supper

--today we join with millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ

around the globe who, like us, are remembering the sacrifice

Jesus Himself made so that we can receive forgiveness for

our sins, salvation from death, hell, and the grave, and life for

eternity in His Kingdom

---as you might imagine, such a gift comes at an

unspeakably high price

We prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper by reflecting on the events

surrounding that first Supper à Read Matthew 26:26-29

Jesus uses the bread of the meal to represent His body...a body He

would willingly offer to be scourged, beaten beyond recognition, and

ultimately nailed to a cross

-He does all of this not because He is overpowered by the Jewish

religious leaders or the Roman government...not because He

deserves punishment for something He’d done wrong...He does

all of this because of us—you and me

--Read 1 Peter 2:21-25

Jesus also uses the wine during the meal to symbolize His blood...

blood that poured from His hands and feet where the nails pierced

His flesh...blood that ran down His face because of the thorns the

Roman soldiers had fashioned into a mockery of a crown...blood

that oozed from what was left of His back after chunks of skin and

muscle had been ripped from Him by the pieces of bone and metal

embedded in the tips of the whips used in the merciless scourging

-it is true that Hebrews 9:22 states: without the shedding of blood

there is no forgiveness...and there was certainly no shortage of

blood—innocent blood—on Calvary that day

--Read 1 Peter 1:18-21

But as central to our faith and our salvation as the cross is, and while

it is good and right for us to focus on the cross, the Lord’s Supper

also invites us to consider another aspect of its significance...one

that we too often simply overlook

-do you remember what Jesus says after He explains the meaning

of the wine?

--Matthew 26:29 à I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the

vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you

in my Father’s kingdom.

In its compelling invitation to look back, to pause from our hurried life

and even our hurried worship and let Christ’s sacrifice sink in again

...the Lord’s Supper also points us forward—not in wishful thinking,

but in hope grounded in faith and built upon the foundation of the

surety of God’s word

-so what is our hope?

--there is coming a day when you and I, gathered with all of the

saints past, present, and future will sit down with Jesus—the

One who died and was raised and who has given us life—and

we will begin a celebration that will last for all eternity

-using the images of Christ as the groom and the Church as the

bride, Revelation 19:6-9 gives us a glimpse of that awesome day

And that day is coming—we have Jesus’ word on it

-He doesn’t offer His disciples and us some sort of cotton candy

hope—you know, something that tastes sweet but there’s no

substance to it and so it quickly dissolves into disappointment

--Jesus describes reality for them—a still-in-the-future reality,

true, but reality, nonetheless

-and that changes—or at least it should—how we approach the

Lord’s Supper...are we cross-focused and Christ-centered? yes!

--are we silent and still...sensitive to the Holy Spirit convicting us

of sin? of course!

--do we try to weigh the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice...His body

beaten and bruised...His blood poured? certainly?

-but do we get a little excited as we anticipate that we are just one

Lord’s Supper celebration closer to sharing the table with Jesus

...not only in a spiritual presence like we enjoy now, but in a

physical, face-to-face presence we will know for eternity

That’s part of what Paul’s trying to convey at the end of Philippians 3

-he’s been describing those who are living as enemies of the cross...

those who are self-centered, get-all-you-can-while-you-can, living-

only-for-the-here-and-now

--and in black-and-white contrast to them, he says we are

radically different from them

---Read Philippians 3:20 – 4:1

Because we have been changed forever by God’s grace

-because we have been forgiven of our sins

--because we have received a salvation that cannot be taken

away from us...everything is different

It’s not that we’re better than those who are enemies of the cross

-in fact, that’s exactly what and who we used to be before Christ

--and it’s simply that’s how completely different He’s changed us

---we are no longer the same—we can’t be—and we never will

be again—never in eleventy-billion years

C.S. Lewis à If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the

world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made

for another world.

Verse 20 reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven

-I can promise you that’s exactly what Donna Pitchford has

experienced this week while distributing Bibles to North African

Muslims who are visiting France

--while Donna’s been in France these last ten days or so, she

has worked hard, gotten tired and, no doubt, frustrated...but

she will also tell you that she’s had a marvelous experience...

she toured Paris, she swam in the Mediterranean, she ate

genuine French food

---but like she told Greg on the phone last week, she’s still

homesick...as wonderful as France may be, it’s not home

--and in a couple of hours she, like all of us who’ve ever been

overseas, will have a flood of emotions when her plane

touches down on American soil

---and knowing Donna, her joy and her relief will be

expressed through tears—a lot of them...and then she’ll

feel a little silly for being such a big cry baby...except that

if she looks around she’ll notice that she’s not the only

one on that airplane who’s overcome with emotion

----it’s a phenomenon that occurs with countless tourists,

business people, service men and women, and

others who return to their homeland

-----it’s not because the place they visited was bad,

but simply because they know that they are

American citizens...and that means something

—it means that when you go, you leave a

piece of you here...and so you are somehow

incomplete until you return

On a teeny-tiny scale, that’s what our home-going will be like

-it’s why Paul goes on in v. 21 to say we eagerly await a Savior from

there, the Lord Jesus Christ...

--and we are once again reminded that part of the power of the

Lord’s Supper is that Jesus, in the context of death and

suffering, took advantage to point to the future

---not a future full of harps and spirits floating on clouds, but a

future where He will transform our lowly bodies so that they

will be like His glorious body.

Some times in some places it’s not cool to look forward to the future

-some Christians will say, “Don’t concern yourself with that nonsense

when there are real problems right here and right now.”

--now, while there is some validity to their point, don’t forget the

incredibly frank, but true claim in found 1 Corinthians 15:19 à

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied

more than all men.

-later that same chapter blesses us with this picture of our future

Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 (NLT)

Let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die.

When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true:

Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

For sin is the sting that results in death...How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!