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Easy faith Philippians 3:4b-14 If anybody has reason to be confident about themselves, it’ us, you and me. Think about it. The person who writes this meditation, and most of its readers, are white, middle class Americans. We reside in a land of plenty and of privilege, and most of us do just fine when it comes to money and property, notwithstanding the fact that we never seem to have enough, like to complain about taxes, all the while living in comfortable homes, driving good cars, and eating far more food than we need for sustenance. And, we (many of us, anyway) rather easily identify ourselves as people of God, as followers of Christ. We very easily identify ourselves as a nation under God, a nation which God blesses (that raises the question for me about God’s blessings extending to other nations, such as The Netherlands?), and that everyone surely believes in God. And so, in common with the Apostle Paul, we have reason to be confident in the flesh. (3:4b, NRSV) Are we not, after all, a chosen people?  If we can accept the general premise with which I have started, then we can begin to consider what else Paul confronts us with in today’s passage. You see, Paul goes on to say that all of his special worldly privileges, the special status that he enjoys simply by the accident of birth, come to nothing. More than that, Paul writes, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (8) That’s not all, for Paul takes it a step further: For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him… (8-9) So those things which we hold so dear, which we oft hold up as our greatest prizes, come to rubbish in Paul’s understanding. The righteousness which Paul possessed came not from him, not from the law, not from that which the world holds so dear: it comes only from God, and is based on faith. (9)  Sometimes, we (and trust me, I include myself here!) want to believe that it’s all about us, that we make it all happen, that it’s simple to lay claim to being God’s people. If anyone had a right to think that way, it was Paul, a model Christian if ever there was one. And yet Paul understands that saying that we believe, saying that we are Christians, is only a starting point. We need to live it, work at it continuously, admit to and confess our struggles and failures, and then: press on. Then in unison with Paul we can say: but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (13-14) And so, let’s keep on pressing on, together, with God’s help and with God’s grace. - Pastor Piet - March 25, 2007: 5th Sunday in Lent (Please read the scripture passage in its entirety)