Disaster Strikes (Ruth 1.1-5)

Introduction

 

For the next six Sundays, we’ll be in the Book of Ruth, and this will take us to the end of August. 

 

The German poet Goethe said, “no poet in the world has written a more beautiful short story” than the Book of Ruth and he described it as “the loveliest complete work on a small scale handed down to us.” And it’s hard to disagree. 

 

Ruth is one of just two books in the Bible that are named after women, the other being Esther. But that’s not all these two books have in common. Both are at least partly set in a foreign land. Both involve a crisis carrying the threat of death. Both have unexpected twists that dramatically change the fortunes of the main characters. Both are romances, which end happily ever after. 

 

Most significantly of all, and this is key, both Esther and Ruth explore the way God works imperceptibly but decisively behind the scenes in ordinary lives to accomplish his purposes. 

 

As we know, sadly, romances don’t always end well. I once read about a post on Twitter, as it was then called, where someone said, “I'm tweeting to say I sent you an email explaining my voicemail about a note I left saying I'm leaving you because we don’t talk anymore.”

 

But this romance ends as well as any possibly can; with a royal bloodline that will feature in the genealogy of King David no less – and, even more importantly, of King Jesus. Humanly speaking, if there’s no Ruth, there’s no Jesus. And that’s the main reason why this book has such significance for Christians. But it’s not the only reason; there’s so much in here to enrich our faith. So let’s read the first 5 verses, which set the scene for the whole book. 

 

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together

with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Background

 

The story of Ruth begins by situating her in historical context. It was, says v1, “in the days when the Judges ruled” which is a 300-year period that ends around 1,050 BC. 

 

If your Bible is open at the book of Ruth, you can just glance over at the previous page and see that the very last verse of Judges gives you a concise summary of what life was like at that time; “In those days” it says, “Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Everyone carried on as they pleased. 

 

Very much like in our day and age, most people didn’t ever really stop to think about God and what he might want. The vast majority just went around doing whatever they felt like, whenever they felt like it. 

 

And, because of that, surprise, surprise, these were dark and desperate days. The time of the Judges spanned three centuries of chronic spiritual malaise, with one crisis after another. It was a godless time. It was an age of ingrained corruption, and lawlessness and spiralling violence and sexual promiscuity. 

 

It was in no sense the best of times. As C.J. Mahaney says, “If Charles Dickens were to write the opening line of this book, it would simply read, It was the worst of times.” God’s chosen people, whom he had graciously freed from centuries of slavery in Egypt to inherit a delightful new land, were behaving like the godless nations that had previously lived there.

 

That’s the unpromising background to Ruth, but we’re going to see in the next 5 weeks that God loves to do beautiful things in our bleakest crises.

 

 

Tragic irony 1: famine in the house of bread

 

There are three tragic ironies in the opening verses of this book that help us understand what God is saying here, and the first one is this: Bethlehem is surrounded by fertile wheat and barley fields. It’s a place of agricultural abundance. 

 

Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ but, irony of ironies, v1 tells us that the land is blighted by severe famine. Food has become scarce. Prices are shooting up. It is increasingly challenging to put daily bread on the table.

 

How can it be that a land once flowing with milk and honey is now experiencing food shortages? Is it simply “one of those things”? Is it purely a few years of freak weather leading to some bad harvests? 

 

No, this is a display of God’s righteous correction, and it’s designed to turn the people of God back to the path of blessing. Remember what God said in Deuteronomy 28 when he set out for Israel the terms and conditions for living in the land he gave them. 

 

He said, “The crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed... All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.”

 

“But if you do not fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow his commandments… you will sow much seed in the land but you will harvest little.” 

 

God always does what he says he will do. There’s no question that this is a setback sent by God to steer his wayward people back to their senses. 

 

Verse 1 also introduces us to Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons. Elimelech decides to take his family to a neighbouring land. 

 

Why do they head off to, of all places, Moab? Moab is only about 50 miles away and even though it’s an arid, barren country the other side of the Dead Sea, for some reason they are not, at this time, experiencing the same famine as Israel is.

 

Moab is a nation born in incest (you can read about it in Genesis 19) and it has a deserved reputation for depravity. They worship a demonic fertility god called Chemosh and even sacrifice their children to him. The Moabites are enemies of Israel, and they often raid the land and plunder it. They are neighbours from hell. Why would any Israelite relocate there? 

 

It's because in those days, Israel had no king; everyone did their own thing. And when you do your own thing, without ever looking to God, you tend to come up with bad ideas.

 

Tragic irony 2: my God is king - except he isn’t

 

Here’s the second tragic irony. Elimelek means ‘My God is King’. But this man acts like he is in charge. There is no hint of living by faith, seeking God, asking for guidance, or praying for provision. Elimelek is a self-made man. He devises a human solution with man’s wisdom to every problem. 

 

He should stay in Bethlehem, in the very land God promises to bless his obedient people. He should turn to God in repentance and cry out for mercy with everyone else. But he just does the first harebrained thing that enters his head, leading his family off to Moab.

 

But, if we’re honest, this is all too familiar. With our prayer tank empty, leaving us running on fumes, we often find ourselves managing our way out of our problems. Elimelek looks for a human answer to his family’s troubles, but it just leads him, literally, to a dead-end.

 

“Trust in the Lord”, says Proverbs 3.6, “with your whole heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will your paths straight.”

 

But Elimelek and Naomi do lean only on their own understanding. They think they can straighten out their paths all by themselves. And it is “all by themselves”; this does not appear to be a mass migration. Only Elimelek and his family, it seems, emigrate to Moab to escape this famine.

 

Like unchurched Christians, they sever their ties with God’s people, and they desert the land of milk and honey that God had promised them, hoping the grass is greener elsewhere. 

 

But listen, it’s not by forgetting God’s promises, and leaving God’s people, and turning your back on the arena of God’s blessing that your problems magically vanish. 

 

Do you ever get restless and bored in the place that God has placed you? Are you constantly feeling spiritually and emotionally disappointed, or dissatisfied? Are you tempted to wander away from God’s call on your life? 

 

The Bible scholar Matthew Henry wisely writes, “It is evidence of a discontented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of the place in which God has set us, and to be for leaving it immediately whenever we meet with any uneasiness or inconvenience.”

 

I have known many Christians shaken in their faith by adversity. I have myself. We live in a spiritual battleground. Are we going to stand firm and come through it stronger? 

 

Let’s make sure our exhausted souls are replenished with grace. Look for opportunities to pray with others, build others up and be encouraged by them. 

 

Tragically though, some Christians drift away. Like Elimelek and Naomi, they try to manage on their own but end up slowly disconnecting from God and isolating themselves from the community of his people.

 

Some years ago, a disillusioned and burned-out missionary walked into a church. He didn’t really want to be there. He found churches like this one a bit annoying, so he sat at the back with every intention of dashing out as soon as the service was over. 

 

Against all expectations, it did him a power of good. There was sung worship and really great preaching (also from Ruth incidentally).

 

The service host grabbed him at the door they got talking for a few minutes, and the conversation finished like this; “You know, we’re looking for someone exactly like you for a new ministry starting in three weeks’ time. Why don’t you send us your CV?” The church was St Michael’s Paris, the discouraged missionary was me and that chance conversation led to great personal restoration and ten happy, fruitful years on their ministry team. 

 

And I learned something that day. When everything seems to be against you, and when God seems distant and silent, and when you’re discouraged and demotivated, that’s when you have to put yourself in the place where God is most likely to bless you; in his presence, among his people and under his word.

 

Verse 2 introduces us to the rest of the family; Naomi means “pleasant” or “sweet.” And the Book of Ruth confirms that she was well-named. 

 

Mahlon and Kilion, their two sons, have the weirdest names. You might like the names Mahlon and Kilion. You might think they sound cute. But, I assure you, they’re not good names. Mahlon means “Sickly” and Kilion means “Poorly.” It’s like me introducing you to my two lovely boys, Birdflu and Herpes! We’ve got a little girl on the way, and we’re thinking of calling her Salmonella... 

 

So Elimelek means “God is King” but he was king of his own life. Don’t make the same mistake.

 

Tragic irony 3: they move to avoid death - and then die 

 

Here’s the third tragic irony. Elimelek taking his family to Moab is his plan to escape death and what happens? In v3, he dies. 

 

Notice it doesn’t say how he dies. It doesn’t tell you if he had a heart attack, or fell off a roof, or got food poisoning, or got struck by lightning. It just says, he died. No one will ever know how - or why. 

 

This is the first question we usually ask when someone dies unexpectedly isn’t it? “Why?” We always want to know why but we don’t always get to find out. There are mysteries in God we will never plumb the depths of. There are puzzles and enigmas in life we will never solve. 

 

Deuteronomy 29.29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 13.12 says, “We only see a dim reflection, we only know in part.” One day, in eternity, we will understand fully. But, for now, we all live with questions that will remain unanswered all our lives. 

 

But what we can say is that sorrows and heartbreaks are often crossroads in our lives which either drive us deeper into God or turn us away from him. 

 

San Franciso based church leader John Ortberg says that if you ask atheists why they don’t believe in God, the number one reason will be suffering. But if you ask people who do believe in God when they spiritually grew the most, the number one answer will be, “when I came through a period of suffering.” 

 

“Now Thank We All Our God” is the English translation of a German hymn from the 17th Century. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s the first verse:

 

Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

 

And so it goes on, speaking of “ever joyful hearts” and “cheer” and ending with “all praise and thanks to God.” 

 

Martin Rinkart, the hymn’s composer, pastored a church in Eilenburg, about 15 miles from Leipzig. And he wrote it as his world crumbled around him. Now, we all thank our God, he wrote, but there was precious little to be thankful for. The Thirty Years’ War was raging through Europe, and the bubonic plague was spreading rapidly at that time.

 

During the height of the plague in 1637, Rinkart was the only surviving pastor in his town. He had to conduct over 4,000 funerals that year, that’s 11 per day, including his wife’s. The heartbreak!

 

This was the setting for that song of worship - social and political unrest, daily fear, life-threatening pandemic. But the hymn gives no hint of the turmoil of the time. Instead, it points to a bounteous God who meets every spiritual need in want and in plenty, in war and in peace, in sickness and in health. 

 

The hymn soared in popularity. People desperate for light, desperate for relief, became renewed in faith and hope.

 

Romans 8 talks about groaning and grieving. We groan and we grieve. We suffer loss and affliction. But Romans 8 goes on to say that God will replace groaning and grieving with gladness and glory. And it says that what is to come, for those who love the Lord, will far, far outweigh our current suffering. In fact, in Romans 8.17-30, Paul mentions suffering twice, sighing three times, but glory four times.

 

And if you today are stuck in the valley of the shadow of death – and I know some of you are walking there right now – honestly, you may never know why your loved one died instead of recovering. You may never know why your prayers for healing, or for a job, or for a soulmate still go unanswered. 

 

But as Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say, “Don’t let the things you don’t know spoil the things you do know.” 

 

What you do know is that God is always good, your Father is eternally for you, Jesus is still Lord, the Holy Spirit is your comforter, there is nothing that can separate you from his love, the devil is under Jesus’ feet, he’s soon going to be under ours too, the Bible is true, death has lost its sting, Christ has overcome, his yoke is easy, his burden is light, and his grace is sufficient for you.

 

Don’t let the things you don’t know spoil the things you do know.

 

Grief Upon Grief

 

For Naomi, the pain is not over. In v4 her sons marry outside the people of God. This was not totally forbidden like intermarrying with Canaanites was, but it was never God’s ideal. It was seen as unwise and ill advised, like marrying unbelievers is for Christians. 

 

Because Mahlon and Kilion, like their dad, did as they saw fit, they got absorbed into the pagan culture around them. They let go of their God, who had delivered them from Egypt, to adopt the idols of Moab. 

 

For any Christian parent, it is heartbreaking to watch your children drift away from the Lord. Never give up praying for them. Most people I have seen come to faith at Alpha down the years turned out to have had some kind of Christian experience or acquaintance in the past. Never underestimate the awesome power of a praying parent who never loses hope.

 

In v5 it’s rock bottom. The two sons die too. And Naomi is bereft. I don’t believe there is any human experience more painful than having to bury your own children. 

 

Naomi’s husband was her breadwinner and he’s dead. Her sons would have assumed the role of providing for her in his place. Now they’re dead too. She’s now too old to have more children who could, one day, look after her. Her parents are probably dead as well, either from old age or in the famine. 

 

There’s no social provision for childless widows - at all. She has no income, no savings, and no pension. She is destitute and penniless. And she’s stranded in a foreign country. 

 

And all because she and her husband just did as they saw fit and left the Promised Land. Now she has no one from her own faith or even her own country. 

 

Ending

 

David will pick up the story next week – I’m glad to say it gradually gets brighter as it goes on. And whatever mess we find ourselves in, whether it’s because of our own life choices or whether we’ve just been dealt a bad hand in life, by the grace of God there’s a way out.

 

But I want to end by looking to another man from Bethlehem, the house of bread, who revealed himself as the Bread of Life. 

 

He never did what was right in his eyes, but only what he saw his heavenly Father doing. He said his food was to do the will of God. 

 

He knew grief more than anyone else, being a man of sorrows familiar with suffering. His heart went out to a bereft widow about to bury her son and who said, “Don't cry” before raising him to life. He overcame death for good and will one day finally put an end to it. 

 

I think he would say to each one of us today, “Whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, however you’ve got yourself here today, why don’t you open up your heart right now to receive grace for a brand-new start?”

 

Let’s pray...

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 20 July 2025

Pressing On (Philippians 3.12-21)

 

Introduction

 

Last year, Kathie and I were in the audience for an evening with Sir Ranulph Fiennes at the Darlington Hippodrome. 

 

At the grand old age of 80, he talked about his life as an undercover SAS officer, intrepid adventurer and explorer. This is a man who, aged 59, completed seven marathons, in seven days, on seven continents, just four months after double coronary bypass surgery following a heart attack.

 

He climbed to the summit of Mount Everest at the age of 65 and he remains the oldest person ever to achieve that feat. He is the first person to visit both the North and South poles, and also the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. 

 

It wasn’t a talk for the squeamish. In one of his polar expeditions, he sustained severe frostbite on all the fingers on his left hand, prompting him to sever his own fingertips with an electric saw to prevent gangrene. And he talked about all this quite matter-of-factly, as if it was a speech about how to put the bins out for the dustmen.

 

I don’t think I can think of anyone, living or dead, with quite his level of determination and tenaciousness and single-mindedness.  

 

But if anyone in the Bible could run him close, or indeed exceed him, it is the Apostle Paul. In one summary of his life, Paul listed hard work, (“harder than anyone else” he said which tells you how competitive he was), constant travel, frequent imprisonment, severe floggings, sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst, cold, repeated exposure to death, being pelted with stones, danger from rivers, danger at sea, peril from bandits, three shipwrecks and more. 

 

How did he keep going despite constant discouragements and resistance? Well, the second half of Philippians 3, which we’re looking at today, gives us some clues. We’re picking up from last week at v12.

 

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

 

Last Sunday, in the first half of chapter 3, Paul told us that the foundation for your Christian growth and maturity is taking all your advantages of birth and upbringing and all your human achievements - and considering them as less than useless compared to knowing Christ. 

 

As we sang last Sunday, “it’s all about Jesus for his glory and fame, it’s not about me as if God should do things my way.” That’s the foundation.

 

And in the second half of Philippians 3, Paul lists five really useful tools to help us build on that foundation. So our focus this morning is what I’m going to call five vital keys for growth and maturity in our Christian lives. 

 

If you want to grow in faith, and in stature, as a believer, if you are not content to coast and just drift along, if you’re ambitious to go places with God, then this passage of scripture is for you, and God wants to speak to you through it, and it is no accident that you are here this morning.

 

1. Acknowledge a need for growth

 

The first key to advancing in faith is to acknowledge a need for growth. To acknowledge a need for growth. 

 

No matter how far on you are in your Christian journey, there are always new things to learn, more spiritual gifts to eagerly desire, other rough character edges to sand down and fresh faith challenges to meet. The path of growing more like Christ is a long one; it is in fact life-long.

 

How do you think you’re doing? Do you ever think, “Well, I’ve been a Christian a long time now, I’ve pretty well worked it out”? 

 

Paul’s self-assessment here is that he is not there yet. “Not that I have already obtained this,” (that is, what he described in v8-11, about knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings), “not that I have already obtained this, or have already arrived at my goal” he says in v12.

 

And in case that isn't sufficiently clear, he repeats himself in v13 when he says, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” 

 

Paul - a guy who had, I remind you, met the risen Christ in person, led apostolic teams, planted churches, miraculously broken out of prison, healed the sick and raised the dead - he cannot yet say, ‘I’ve been there, done that and got the T-shirt.’

 

What a contrast this is incidentally from his pre-conversion self-assessment that we saw last week. In v6, he says that he used to regard himself as blameless, faultless. Nothing to learn, no improvement possible.

 

But now, having had his world turned upside down by his encounter with Christ, he’s saying, years later, “I haven’t arrived yet.”

 

So there’s the first key. Is it my honest confession today that there is plenty of room for growth in my Christian life? Am I truthfully saying, “I’m not there yet”? 

 

2. Forget the past and strain ahead

 

The second key growing in faith is pursuing more of God, v12-14. Twice in these verses the divinely inspired author of this letter says, “I press on,” and once he says, “I am straining toward to what is ahead.” 

 

Paul often uses the metaphor of athletic competition to describe Christian living, and this is one example. He compares himself here to a long-distance runner.

 

And note his distinctive running style. Two words; forgetting and straining. Forgetting is about his past. And straining is about the future.

 

When runners look back, we’ve all seen this, when they turn their heads, they disrupt their own momentum and slow themselves down. Many an Olympic medal has been lost because a runner gave in to the temptation to glance behind, only to be beaten to the tape by a competitor. 

 

Paul had good reason to want to forget what was behind him. He held the coats, remember, of the men who murdered a Christian in cold blood. He describes himself elsewhere as the worst of sinners because he had once persecuted the church.

 

We all live to some extent with shame and regret. How many “if onlys” do we carry into this meeting today as we look back on our lives? Every one of us here carries baggage from the past. What’s holding you back?

 

Listen, because of Christ, who gives you his righteousness as a free gift, you can let go of past guilt and you can look ahead with complete freedom to what you will be in Christ. 

 

Don’t let your past failures define you. Don’t let them become a prison. In Isaiah 43 God says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” In Christ, you are a new creation. It’s over. You are forgiven. You can move on! In his amazing grace, Christ has made you new.

 

This is no time to wallow in the past. It’s time to strain towards what God has for us in the future. “One thing I do”, Paul says. He’s a single-minded “one thing” type of guy. What are you most passionate about in life? What do you think those who know you best would say is your “one thing?”

 

The great Olympic decathlete Daley Thompson used to love Christmas Day more than any other day – do you know why? Because no one else trained then. He would exercise extra hard on December 25th, knowing that he would gain a tiny margin on his competitors because they were all taking a day off, eating turkey and stuffing.

 

Thompson was a man who devoted himself, heart and soul, to being the best decathlete on earth. For him, coming second was the same as coming last. He, like the apostle Paul, was completely focused and absolutely committed. That’s why both were high achievers.

 

And look, Paul sets the bar very high. And the last thing I would want is to discourage you by holding him up as the benchmark that you could never model yourself on. Please don’t feel condemned by comparing yourself to Paul - but do please be provoked. Be inspired. 

 

If you are feeling a bit discouraged today, there’s a story I like to tell, whether it’s a true story or not, I don’t know. It’s about an athlete who is given a particularly strict training regime by his coach. 

 

He is shown this giant boulder, and he is told to push against it with all his might. “You must use all your strength, every muscle, against the boulder, and let’s see how far you get,” says his coach. 

 

For months, the athlete trains hard. Every day, he gives everything. He uses all his strength trying to move this rock. He lines his shoulder hard up against it, parallel to the ground, day after day he pushes with all his might - and it never once moves an inch.

 

Every evening, he goes back home deflated, tired, and starting to wonder if he isn’t wasting his time. After each session he aches all over. He begins to doubt; “Here I am, pushing that rock every day and it never even moves. I’m getting nowhere. It’s too heavy.” 

 

So he goes back to his trainer and says, “Why are you wasting my time with this training routine? Do you want to ingrain in me the feeling of being a loser? I’ve had enough.”

 

But his trainer says with a smile, “Wait a minute. Did I ever say you have to move the rock? I did not. And I never expected you to. Your task was to push, that’s all. And now you come and tell me you’ve failed. Well, have you? Take a look in the mirror. Your biceps are firm, your back is strong, your shoulders are broad, and your legs are solid. That’s down to this training and now you are ready to take on the best in the world and win.”

 

If your heart is growing faint, and your first love feels diminished, grab key number 2 today and passionately pursue Christ, forgetting what is behind and letting the Holy Spirit reignite the fire in your soul.

 

3. Hold on to spiritual ground you have already gained

 

Third key, and more briefly, is in v16 where it says, “Let us live up to what we have already attained.” If you want to make ground in faith, make sure you hold the spiritual ground you have already gained. 

 

I suspect we all know people who became Christians in a flurry of excitement, were super keen for a short while, only to fade out, never to be seen again. 

 

We shouldn’t be surprised that this happens; Jesus told us it would. He said people like this are like seeds that fall on rocky soil, springing up quickly, only to wither and die because their roots are shallow.

 

The important thing for all of us here is not that we started excitedly but that we finish strong. Paul says here, in effect, what we have we hold. I’m not going to regress; I’m not going to let myself backslide. 

 

4. Find and follow godly role models

 

The fourth key to progressing in faith is to find and follow good role models – and avoid bad ones.

 

“Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ,” says Paul in v18-19. “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”

 

There are plenty of examples of that in the political world, on social media, in popular entertainment; this is not where we get our values from.

 

But in v17, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, invites this young church to follow in his footsteps and those like him. He says, “Join together in following my example, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.”

 

Does he have an inflated ego? Not really. In 1 Corinthians 11.1 he expands on this, telling us what he means; “Follow my example,” he says, “as I follow Christ.” 

 

Is it because Paul thinks he is perfect? No. In v12 he states clearly that he knows he isn’t. He is flawed, and he knows it. But man, is he is focused!

 

In Hebrews 12, the writer points to Christians we can look up to and says, “Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” 

 

What kind of follower would a new Christian become if he or she imitated your focus and your faith? And who, as a Christian, can you look to as a role model, who has a track record behind them of faith and love, who is still standing, no matter many battles they’ve fought? 

 

Follow their example, as they follow Christ. That is the fourth key to advancing in faith.

 

5. Keep an eternal perspective

 

The fifth and final key is to keep an eternal perspective. “Our citizenship” says v20, “is in heaven.”

 

In many ways, we are strangers here. Misfits. We don’t quite belong. The values and lifestyles and ideals that our culture celebrates are different from, and sometimes opposite to, the values and lifestyles and ideals that are commended in God’s word. 

 

Christians often feel excluded. Unable to partake or participate. Out of it. That’s because we are not at home here. Our real home is in heaven.

 

Though we may appropriately feel patriotism and gratitude for the country we come from, our heavenly citizenship takes precedent over our belonging to whatever nation features on the front of our passport. 

 

Our country may celebrate cultural events or pass laws that we cannot accept or agree with.

 

The apostle John puts it this way: “Do not love the world or anything in the world… For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world.”

 

Because our citizenship lies elsewhere. We are all foreigners here. Our real home is heaven. So keep an eternal perspective and don’t let the world dictate your standards.

 

Ending

 

I want to finish with another athlete story. A canoeist called Bill Havens was a member of the US Olympic canoeing team for the 1924 Games in Paris. 

 

About six months before the Olympics, he realised that his wife was due to give birth to their first child right in the middle of the Games. In those days of course there were no commercial airlines running transatlantic; flights; there were only cruise ships which took days to cross the ocean. 

 

Bill Havens had a dilemma; go to Paris and risk missing out on supporting his wife while she gave birth for the first time? Or withdraw from the Olympic team and forego all hope of the gold medal he had dreamed of since childhood? 

 

His wife insisted that he go. He had trained so hard for so many years. But, in the end, Bill decided to stand down from the team to be with his wife. 

 

That summer, as expected, the US canoe team won Olympic gold. Bill missed out. And guess what? The birth of Frank Havens was overdue. So overdue that dad could have gone to Paris and returned in time for the birth. 

 

Everyone said, “Oh, what a shame.” But Bill Havens always said he had no regrets. After all, his wife and family were of much greater value than a bit of gold plate and a ribbon.

 

But that’s not the end of the story. 28 years later, Bill Havens received a telegram from Helsinki, Finland. It was from his son Frank and this is what it said: “Dad. I won! And I’m coming home with the medal you should have won while waiting for me to be born.” Frank had just won canoeing gold in the 1952 Games.

 

Like Bill Havens, let’s forget the past and live a life others want to emulate. Like Frank Havens, let’s strain ahead and win the prize. 

 

May God give us grace to keep pressing on – and win the prize for which God calls us heavenwards. And oh, how much more eternally glorious will be the prize in the race for all of us here who forget what is behind and press on all the way to the finish line. 

Sermon preached at King's Darlington, 29 June 2025. 

 

 

 

 

The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ (Philippians 3.1-11)

 

Introduction

 

In March 2014 an Italian call centre worker called Claudia Moretti discovered a safe in the house she had inherited from her uncle. Imagine how her face broke into a smile when she opened the safe door and found 100 million Italian lire in cash.

 

She went to the Bank of Italy in Rome to convert the cash into euros, and was told that when Italy adopted the euro in 2002 the government agreed to exchange old currency only up to December 2011. To her dismay, Claudia was three years too late. All coins and notes presented after that time became totally worthless.  

 

Today, as we continue in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we will come across another riches-to-rags story; but this time - take note - because it involves you. 

 

There is a thing in this world that takes every inherited advantage, every human privilege, every penny you’ve worked for, every natural ability, every hard-earned qualification, every exhilarating achievement, every source of pride in your life and reduces it to being as valuable as piled up, stinking, rat-infested street garbage.

 

And if you want to find out what that is, listen closely please to today’s passage, which begins in chapter 3, verse 1.

 

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.  Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh – though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 

I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

 

Prayer…

 

Joy in your life

 

Some people seem to live by the maxim “Start each day with a smile. Get it over with!” Not Paul. “Rejoice in the Lord” he says in v1. He’s going to repeat that exhortation in 4.4; “rejoice in the Lord always.” 

 

As Max Lucado says, “Not just on paydays, Fridays, good days, or birthdays. But rejoice in the Lord always.” Is joy springing from your life in the Lord this morning?

 

Our young people have been learning a little acronym these past few months; one I learned when I was their age incidentally. J.O.Y. Jesus, others, you. Put Jesus first, put others second, then put yourself last. That’s the secret to having joy in your life. It’s true, that’s how you live joyfully.

 

No wonder Paul says, “It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.”

 

Claudia Moretti thought she had found joy in all those stacks of banknotes when she opened her safe, but how much happiness can money really buy you? 

 

Let me read you five quotes from some of the wealthiest men who have ever lived. Oil entrepreneur John D. Rockefeller; “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie; “Millionaires seldom smile.” Railroad pioneer and stock market speculator Jay Gould; “I suppose that I am the unhappiest and least satisfied man on earth.” Shipping mogul and financier Aristotle Onassis; “I seem to have spent my life in a golden tunnel looking for the outlet which would lead to happiness. But the tunnel kept going on.” And Petrochemicals tycoon John Paul Getty; “I find all this money a considerable burden.”   

 

Beware of the dog

 

Last Sunday, at the end of chapter 2, we saw how Paul encouraged the Philippian believers to welcome and appreciate and honour people like Timothy and Epaphroditus. But now, Paul feels he needs to warn the church about the kind of people they, and by extension we, should watch out for. 

 

The language is severe, and it has to be, because young churches everywhere were under serious threat from people intent on harming them with their deceptive and defective teaching. Verse 2 is basically a “Beware of the Dog” notice. 

 

According to a report in The Guardian newspaper last year, an average of 42 Royal Mail employees are attacked by a dog every week in the UK. There were 2,206 such attacks in the year to 31 March 2024, a 15% increase on the previous year, which was itself 15% higher than the year before that. 

 

Many postal workers sustain life-changing injuries. According to the Communication Workers Union, 1,000 postal workers have had a finger or part of a finger bitten off through letterboxes in the past five years. 

 

And I bet all their owners say, “Oh, Sniper doesn’t mean it, he’s just being friendly, he's only playing...” All dog owners talk like that, don’t they? Even when your leg is hanging on by a thread following their overenthusiastic welcome.

 

These so-called “dogs,” were off their leads, barking and biting around the churches Paul had planted. Their spiritual descendants are still around today, and when their false gospel prevails, churches lose more than a finger; they lose their soul, their freedom and their power. They choose take a path that leads inevitably to their decline and death. 

 

So Paul’s warning, “watch out for the dogs,” in v2 is designed to awaken our attention and impress upon us the serious nature and dire consequences of this threat. This is highly relevant to us and indeed to every Christian, and every church, in every age.

 

These “dogs,” as Paul calls them, spearheaded a movement that was very prevalent in the early church. They were Jewish believers in Jesus who insisted that Gentile converts to Christ must also embrace the entire Jewish Old Covenant in order to be real Christians. 

 

Acts 15 (which is situated about 10 years before this letter was written) says, “Some men came down from Judea [Jewish] to Antioch [Gentile] and were teaching, ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’” That’s pretty categorical; you cannot be saved. 

 

So this was going on for over a decade now and it became a critical battleground in the early church. Titus 1.10, written perhaps 5 years after Philippians, shows us that they were annoyingly persistent. “There are many rebellious people,” it says, “full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.”

 

Philadelphia-based church leader Philip Ryken says, “Some of the simplest Bible songs for children contain some of the soundest theology. Consider the following chorus beloved of many small children: 

 

Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord.” 

 

Abraham was a very important figure to the people who were infiltrating these young churches and teaching salvation by faith in Jesus, plus the works of the law. If these guys taught any children’s Bible songs when they visited these new church plants, Philip Ryken adds, they might well have gone something like this: 

 

Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, but you are not. So let’s all get together for a little surgical procedure we call circumcision!” (Not sure how you’d fit those new lyrics into the melody to be honest. Maybe Joe and the band can help us with that)!

 

These guys were saying, “Faith in Christ is great. We’re all for it. The more, the merrier in fact. But it’s not enough. You need to add to upgrade on that if you really want to be saved. 

 

For example, you should observe all the special ceremonial days. And you have to abstain from all non-kosher foods. And you need to practise all our man-made customs. And there’s one important requirement if you are male. So form an orderly queue, gentlemen. And, if you don’t sign up to all this, you are not really born again. 

You are not a child of Abraham, so you’re not a child of God.” And Paul says, “No, no, no! No, then. No, now. And no, for all time.” 

 

More is less

 

Any addition to the gospel that seeks to improve it is actually a subtraction from the gospel. In fact, worse than a subtraction; any added extra to the gospel amounts to its cancellation, its invalidation, its nullification. If you attempt to supplement the gospel of grace, if it’s Jesus-Plus-Anything for salvation, you no longer have the gospel at all. 

 

If ever we accept the message of these infiltrators, these “dogs,” we effectively reject the perfectly sufficient person and work of Christ as being inadequate, and deficient, and not enough to save us. We can never accept those terms! Salvation is, and always will be, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

 

What makes you confident today that you will one day stand blameless in the presence of a holy God? What do you bring to the table that makes you sure you can do that?”

 

I could brag that I was christened as a baby, I had a mum who was on the church flower rota, I went to Catholic school run by strict Irish nuns, I served as an altar boy, I got confirmed by a bishop, I went without chocolate once for the entire six weeks of Lent, I got a C in Religious Studies at school, I once went on a pilgrimage, I’ve sat on a church council, and I’ve never taken drugs. Look at me, everybody! I could be pretty delighted with myself. 

 

But Paul produces a list of his own privileges and achievements in v5-6 that puts mine, yours, the pope's, and everyone else’s in the shade. 

 

The first four refer to his inherited privileges by birth. 

And the last three list his outstanding personal achievements. 

If ever somebody could seriously impress with a flawless religious CV and impeccably pious qualifications it was Paul. No one else plays in the same league, let alone the same team.

·       Circumcised on the eighth day (my birth is legitimate)

·       Of the people of Israel (the nationality on my passport is correct)

·       Of the tribe of Benjamin (I’m from good stock)

·       A Hebrew of Hebrews (I’m fluent in the ancient language of the Jews)

·       As regards the law, a Pharisee (I can quote the Old Testament chapter and verse) 

·       As for zeal, persecuting the church (I’m fanatically committed)

·       As for righteousness based on the law, faultless (I have kept all the religious rules)

Religious rules are always about the externals. You have got to bathe in this particular river. You mustn’t eat this or that food. You need these beads to pray properly. You’ve got to fast for a month. You males have to be circumcised. You females have to wear a full-length robe that covers everything but your eyes. You must wear a turban. You must wear a skull cap. You’re not allowed to drink any alcohol. You have to buy crystals, joss sticks, dream catchers and fill your house with new age tat. You mustn’t cut your hair. You must cut your hair. You’ve got to face east to pray.

But religious rules always bring negativity. Instead of comparing ourselves to Jesus and therefore becoming more humble, religious people compare themselves to others and become more judgmental. Religion does not - and cannot - change hearts.

Wayne Grudem asks, “If I were to die tonight and stand before God's judgement seat, and if he were to ask me why he should let me into heaven, would I begin to think of my good deeds and depend on them, or would I without hesitation say that I am depending on the merits of Christ and am confident in him as a sufficient saviour?” 

 

If God were to ask you today why he should let you into heaven, how would you reply? Hopefully, you would say, “My trust and confidence this morning are decidedly not in myself, but in Christ alone. As it says here, I put, v3, “no confidence in the flesh.” That’s what it means.

 

But if you are a Christian, when you face God to give an account for your life, when God says, “Right, let’s assess your performance” and then holds up a long and embarrassing list of sins, though not as bad as mine, and when he says, “Hmm, this doesn’t look good,” you can point to Jesus and say, “Oh, I’m with him.”

 

So in v7-8, Paul says, “Whatever were gains to me [my religious heritage and credentials] I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”

 

All his religious achievements are like those old Italian lires in that safe; utterly worthless and useless. Everything that previously stacked up in his profit column he has now moved over the loss column. “I’ve lost everything,” he says. 

 

Once he became a Christian he was likely disowned by his family. He was persona non grata in his religion. He couldn’t continue teaching in the places he used to teach. Overnight, he lost his income, his security, his friends.

Now he’s in chains so he’s lost his freedom. And he’s contemplating the real possibility that very soon he could lose his life too. 

 

“But,” he says, “that’s no big deal, because I’ve got Jesus in my profit column now and he far outweighs all that other stuff put together. “I consider that all garbage” he says. In fact, he uses some pretty strong scatological language. 

He’s saying, “I flushed all that stinking waste down the pan.” Why? 

 

“That I may gain Christ, v9, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own… but the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”

 

The safety pin was a very simple idea, but it is still ranked among the top 50 inventions of all time. Rob Shaw in his 2003 book Great Inventors and Inventions put it in the top 30. 

 

Its American inventor, Walter Hunt, sold the patent to his design to settle a $15 debt with a friend. Had he kept the patent, it would have made him a millionaire several times over. He could have become one of the richest men of the 19th century, but instead he threw it away because he didn’t realise the value of what he had. 

 

Whatever he considered profit ($15) was now rubbish compared to the incomparably greater alternative of keeping that patent certificate. Hanging onto our religious achievements to save us - is like prizing that $15 only to let the fortune of a lifetime slip away. 

The heart of the matter

And then, finally in v10-11, Paul moves on to talk about his ambitions for the future. Look with me please at v10. 

 

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

 

Paul has mentioned knowing Christ already in verse 8, saying it is of surpassing worth. But now he says, “I want to know Christ.” It’s like in Ephesians 1 it says we already have all things in Christ, then two chapters later it says that God can do immeasurably more in us than all we can imagine.

 

Paul had been apprehended by Christ on the road to Damascus. He began to know him at that moment. But years later he says, in effect, there’s always more of Christ to know. There’s always more of his greatness to discover. There’s always more of his wisdom to glean. There’s always more of his joy, and faithfulness, and comfort to experience. There’s always more of his grace to enjoy. 

 

Who wants to know more of the power of his resurrection? Most, if not all of us, I suspect. Who wants to know more of the fellowship of his sufferings? Hmm, maybe not quite so much. But Paul puts these two things together, because they are so often two sides of the same coin.

 

Many Christians long for revival to sweep their nation; I do. If you do as well, consider the experience of George Whitefield in the 18th century. He was at the centre of a great revival that transformed Britain and the eastern United States. He tasted the power of the resurrection in an extraordinary way. But he shared in Christ’s afflictions. 

 

Whitefield was criticised and insulted in the newspapers, lampooned in song and ridiculed in plays performed at every theatre. He was pelted with mud and rotten vegetables and excrement when he preached in the open air. He even survived an assassination attempt. 

 

Depending on where you live, you can suffer from subtle snubs, not so subtle marginalisation, or more direct mockery. In some countries, where persecution is embedded, you can face demotion, sidelining, dismissal, false accusation, bullying, harassment, imprisonment, or even death.

 

This was Paul’s world, he was in prison after all, but such was the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, he just wanted to know him more.

 

Ending

 

So there you have it. The utter uselessness of religious credentials. Versus the surpassing value of knowing Christ.

 

Are you trusting in any virtue or ability or quality or achievement to rack up your spiritual credit score? Throw it in the trash today.

 

Are you still religiously measuring yourself against others? If so, I urge you to lay that down at the foot of the cross today.

 

Are you counting everything you once held dear as loss compared to knowing Jesus or do you still treasure what is spiritually worthless? Is it time you shifted column A into column B?

 

That surpassing worth of knowing Christ; have you experienced that yet? If not, give your life to him today and you’ll never be the same again.

 

However long you have known Christ, have you settled into a comfort zone or are you passionate to know him more? Let’s all press on to know the Lord and his resurrection power, whatever it costs. Because whatever it costs, it’s worth it.

 

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 22 June 2025