EASTER SUNDAY:
The Ultimate Extreme-Makeover (Phil 3:20-21)
The Ultimate Extreme-Makeover (Phil 3:20-21)
Dr. Paul Manuel—2005
Coming from the suburbs of New York City, the only wildlife that I saw as a child were cats, dogs, pigeons, and squirrels. When, on rare occasions, I saw another animal, what immediately came to mind was a fictional character: Yogi Bear, Tony the Tiger, Bulwinkle the Moose. Some times the associations we make as children stay with us as adults.
That was the apostle Paul's situation as he sat in a Roman prison, writing a letter to the church he established at Philippi, a city in northern Greece. Three times in the first chapter he mentions his plight, saying, "I am in chains" (vv. 7, 13, 17).1 What has he done to warrant such treatment? Has he been arrested for theft or murder? No, he says, "I am in chains for Christ" (v. 13b) and "for the defense of the gospel" (v. 16b). To make matters worse, there are those back in Asia Minor who oppose Paul and would cause him further grief by taking credit for his missionary efforts.2 He writes,
I. Jesus enables our relocation to heaven (Phil 3:20).
God does not want you to get too comfortable here, too attached to what you have acquired and accumulated, because when you focus on your interests, you do not focus on His interests. You also shortchange yourself, because you settle for what you can get here rather than striving for what He can give there. Why would anyone do that? You are probably familiar with the adage: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,4 which means, better to have something small and reliable than attempt to trade it for something large and risky. The home you have now, you can enjoy now. The home God offers later, you can only enjoy later. In fact...
The specific features of your heavenly home remain for you to discover. It is enough to know that the Lord has prepared for your arrival. As Paul notes in another letter.6
We live in a culture that is on the go and that craves instant gratification.
That same attitude—I want this, and I want this now—can put you out of synch with God's timing. He takes a longer and more leisurely view of events than you do. He is never in a hurry, because He knows "the end from the beginning" (Isa 46:10).10 The challenge for you is to take the same long view or, at least, to accept that His timing is in your interest. When things do not go as you plan—"Why did this happen?"—or when things do not go as quickly as you think they should—"What's taking so long?"—you may be able to force the issue, but consider first that God might want to use the difference or the delay for His glory and for your good.11
Have you ever flown and arrived at your destination to discover that your luggage went elsewhere? If the airline is diligent, it is just a temporary separation, as your bags catch up with you later. Something similar happens when you die. Your soul goes to be with God, and your body goes elsewhere. It, too, is just a temporary separation, as your body will catch up with you later. That is possible because...
II. Jesus empowers our resurrection to glory (Phil 3:21).
Linda's stay at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburg for her heart surgery was a reminder of how frail we are.
What he offers us is not a temporary solution, a surgical procedure to repair the damage we have sustained. Neither is it cosmetic, with a facelift, hair implants, and liposuction. It is not renovation or reconstruction but resurrection,13 and...
A man from the city was driving down a country road. Suddenly, a rabbit skipped in front of the car. The man tried to stop but hit the rabbit. He jumped out of his car to check the scene. Seeing the lifeless form, he cried out, "I've killed the Easter bunny!" Another car stopped, and a woman got out to see if she could help. "What's the problem?" she asked. Still sobbing, the man answered, "I've run over the Easter bunny. Now there will be no one to deliver eggs to the children." The woman went back to her car, returned with an aerosol can, and sprayed the motionless rabbit. Immediately, it sprang up, ran into the woods, stopped, and waved back at the man and woman. Then it ran another ten feet, stopped, and waved. It then ran another ten feet, stopped, and waved again. It did this over and over until it was out of sight. Astonished, the man exclaimed, "What is in that can?" Walking back to her car, the woman replied, "It's hare spray.... It revitalizes your hare and adds permanent wave."While the Easter Bunny has nothing to do with the true meaning of the holiday, the fragile nature of life in this world should make you contemplate the durable nature of life in the next world.
That was the apostle Paul's situation as he sat in a Roman prison, writing a letter to the church he established at Philippi, a city in northern Greece. Three times in the first chapter he mentions his plight, saying, "I am in chains" (vv. 7, 13, 17).1 What has he done to warrant such treatment? Has he been arrested for theft or murder? No, he says, "I am in chains for Christ" (v. 13b) and "for the defense of the gospel" (v. 16b). To make matters worse, there are those back in Asia Minor who oppose Paul and would cause him further grief by taking credit for his missionary efforts.2 He writes,
Phil 1:17 [They] preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.Despite this unfortunate turn of events, Paul does not despair,3 but his experiences bring his mortality into sharp relief and turn his attention to the prospect of something else.
Phil 1:21 For...me...to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body...I do not know! 23b [Yet] I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;Apart from bringing an end to his current troubles, what advantage is there to being "with Christ?" Paul does not give a detailed answer that question, but what he does say provides us with a glimpse of what lies ahead and offers us encouragement when troubles bring our own mortality into sharp relief. Turn, please, to Phil 3, where Paul explains in v. 20 that by his sacrifice,...
I. Jesus enables our relocation to heaven (Phil 3:20).
Phil 3:20 [O]ur citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,When after thirty years of marriage and almost as many years of wandering, God enabled us to purchase a house; we were both thrilled and thankful. (We still are thrilled and thankful.) The layout and the location are wonderful. Because we moved so many times while in school and in the ministry, however, I am also wary. Despite the fact that Linda is calling this our retirement home, I am cautious about assuming that we are, indeed, settled at last. Perhaps that is a good thing.
God does not want you to get too comfortable here, too attached to what you have acquired and accumulated, because when you focus on your interests, you do not focus on His interests. You also shortchange yourself, because you settle for what you can get here rather than striving for what He can give there. Why would anyone do that? You are probably familiar with the adage: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,4 which means, better to have something small and reliable than attempt to trade it for something large and risky. The home you have now, you can enjoy now. The home God offers later, you can only enjoy later. In fact...
A. It is the residence we have yet to see.5 (Heaven is whither we shall go.)Unlike house hunting, where you generally look at several places before making a final decision, there are only two options for your eternal home, and you do not have the opportunity to compare the accommodations in heaven with... the alternative. You must take it on faith that one is far superior to the other. Helpfully, there are reports in the New Testament by those who have seen the two locations.
- They describe hell as a place of stark misery, where residents occupy "gloomy dungeons" and are subject to "fire that never goes out" (2 Pet 2:4; Mark 9:43).
- They describe heaven as a place of striking beauty, where you will view "the glory of God" and receive "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade" (Acts 7:55; 1 Pet 1:4).
The specific features of your heavenly home remain for you to discover. It is enough to know that the Lord has prepared for your arrival. As Paul notes in another letter.6
2 Cor 5:1b ...we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.When Paul says to the Philippians that "we eagerly await7 a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ," it reminds us that just as heaven is the residence we have yet to see...
B. He is the redeemer we have yet to meet.8 (Heaven is whence he shall come.)In the late 1950s, a TV show entitled "The Millionaire" followed the lives of ordinary people who received a check for $1,000,000 from an unseen benefactor. (If you remember that show, you probably wished you could have been one of those lucky recipients.) What God offers you is worth far more than $1,000,000, but it is also from an unseen benefactor. The difference is that, while the recipients of that check never met the millionaire, you will one day meet the Savior, and you will be able to thank him in person for what he has done. Are you "eagerly" awaiting that opportunity?
We live in a culture that is on the go and that craves instant gratification.
- We frequent fast-food restaurants because we so not want to take the time to prepare or to eat a leisurely meal.
- We use ATMs because we do not want to wait on line at the bank.
- We correspond by e-mail and instant messenger because snail-mail is just too slow.
- We even have on-line, virtual churches for those whose weekend is too busy to accommodate a regular service.9
That same attitude—I want this, and I want this now—can put you out of synch with God's timing. He takes a longer and more leisurely view of events than you do. He is never in a hurry, because He knows "the end from the beginning" (Isa 46:10).10 The challenge for you is to take the same long view or, at least, to accept that His timing is in your interest. When things do not go as you plan—"Why did this happen?"—or when things do not go as quickly as you think they should—"What's taking so long?"—you may be able to force the issue, but consider first that God might want to use the difference or the delay for His glory and for your good.11
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem to small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race 'til we see Christ.
(When We See Christ by Esther K. Rusthoi [FHP #504])
II. Jesus empowers our resurrection to glory (Phil 3:21).
Phil 3:21 [Christ], 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.When Jesus first came to live among us, it was as a servant, and he said as much...
Matt 20:28a [= Mark 10:45a] ...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve....From healing people's diseases to washing the disciples' feet, he demonstrated his willingness to put others before himself. The greatest demonstration was his willingness to die for man's sin. Paul regards it as the culmination in a series of selfless acts, beginning with Jesus' willingness to leave heaven.
Phil 2:6 [Christ Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be [retained], 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!What Jesus suffered—leaving the splendor of heaven, surrendering the prerogatives of deity, undergoing a most excruciating and humiliating death—was far more traumatic than what Paul or the Philippians or anyone else has suffered. Yet it was necessary to accomplish our redemption, and in recognition of that selfless act...12
Phil 2:9 ...God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.With that kind of authority, Jesus may do anything he wishes, and...
A. He is the ruler we now expectantly serve....expectantly, because of what that power enables him to do for us.
Linda's stay at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburg for her heart surgery was a reminder of how frail we are.
- Despite the countless hours I have spent with other families in hospital ERs and ICUs, it is different when I am there for someone in my family...for Linda: It becomes personal. When the nurses could no longer draw blood from the veins in her arms, a doctor made three painful and failed attempts from her neck. The next morning, when another doctor came to try again, I stopped it. They had no concern for the trauma this was causing her, and only when I intervened did her primary physician come in to offer a less invasive method.
- Despite the seriousness of Linda's condition, I am also reminded that there are others whose situation is far worse, and it brings perspective. While in the waiting room during her surgery, I met a man whose wife had undergone a similar procedure, but the anesthesiologist had given her too much medication, and she was still unconscious... three days later. He could do nothing except stay at her bedside and hope she would come out of it.
What he offers us is not a temporary solution, a surgical procedure to repair the damage we have sustained. Neither is it cosmetic, with a facelift, hair implants, and liposuction. It is not renovation or reconstruction but resurrection,13 and...
B. It is the reward we will eventually receive.What will your new body be like? Paul says here, that "our lowly bodies...will be like [Jesus'] glorious body."14 In 1 Cor 15, Paul uses the metaphor of planting and harvesting to describe it further.15
1 Cor 15:42c So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;If your new body is like Jesus' body in all respects, then his encounter with the disciples in a locked room after the resurrection, teaches that it will have "flesh and bones" but will be able to pass through solid objects.16 I do not pretend to understand the physics involved in such a feat.17 Suffice it to say that God has a wonderful transformation in store for you that will include abilities and opportunities beyond what you possess now. As Paul writes to the church at Corinth...
1 Cor 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (= Isa 64:4)So, what should you do now, as you wait for the final transformation of your body?18 However much you might want to be free from your aches and pains, you cannot rush that event, but you can prepare for it. Concentrate on what you can change now: the gradual transformation of your soul.19
Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.You can make what you are inside a suitable match for what God will make for you outside.
2 Cor 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.As we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, it reminds us of our resurrection. Just as it was for him, so it will be for us The Ultimate Extreme-Makeover. Are you ready for that? Are you looking forward to it?
For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.
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Jim Skaggs