Friday, April 30, 2010

"Who is in the Driver's Seat?" (Philippians 3:10-14) Purpose Driven Series Sermon Three

1. Which seat is the right seat?

Some people have said that Jesus is their co-pilot in life. Sounds good … maybe … but is this a good analogy for where Jesus should sit in a person’s life?

When we were in Hawaii last year, we took a small aeroplane from the main island of Oahu over to the little island of Molokai. This is where there was a leper colony in the 19th Century, and where a small number of people affected by leprosy still live. I have been interested for many years in the life and work of Catholic priest Father Damien, who served the people of Molokai for over twenty years.

In the plane over to and back from Molokai, I got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat. Now this was exciting, because in between taking my video of the flight, I could watch how the pilot operated this small aircraft. My headset was also tuned into the tower giving various flight-path instructions to the pilot. I had sworn for many years that I would never travel in a single engine plane, because if that one engine stopped, then there wasn’t another option. But the allure of visiting Molokai, which I had wanted to do for fifteen years, got the better of me. Without much hesitation, the much braver souls … Raelene, Judy and Clive … said they would come too!

Although the view from the co-pilot’s seat was fantastic, I realised that if the pilot had a heart attack or lost consciousness, then the passengers behind me better not think I could do anything useful up front to save the plane. Even if I knew anything about aviation, I was just too far removed from the pilot’s seat and all the instruments and levers to be any help at all. Likewise, if we keep Jesus in only the co-pilot’s seat, we may be just placing him too far away from the action to actually help us very much.

Jesus in the co-pilot’s seat may work okay when things are going well, but at the first crisis, we might just need greater inner guidance and direction than can be gained from across at the co-pilot’s seat.

Sam recently sold our little white Suzuki for us. He told us about one lady who went for a test drive – with Sam in the front passenger seat. Sam said with the way this lady drove, he actually feared not only for the welfare of the car but also for his life. Now this wasn’t a driving instructor’s car where there are duplicate pedals on the passenger side, so all Sam could do was pray. Sam wasn’t going to be able to do much else to help from the passenger side.

Thus, the co-pilot’s or front passenger’s seat will not cut it! We need to have Jesus firmly in the driver’s seat of our lives – if we firstly want to avoid disaster, and secondly want to excel in life (which of course is synonymous for finding our real purpose).

2. Paul’s change of mind

In the reading before us, from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we get a real picture of the importance of Jesus to each and every life. In the verses that lead up to what we have read, Paul has talked about his former life – even though he was successful and influential by human standards, that all added up to nothing compared to his newly found relationship with Jesus. In fact all his former agendas and associations have been completely left behind due to, as it were, placing Jesus in the driver’s seat of his life. His all consuming focus is now centred on sharing this possibility of new life across the world. This former persecutor of Christians has turned around so completely that he was prepared to go to jail if this is where his new focus and resultant activity took him. We read in verses 8 & 9 –

"… I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 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, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith."

Over the last two sermons in this series, we have found that God is the centre of the universe and therefore our approach to life should move beyond self-interest to seeking God’s unique and special purpose for our lives. For indeed God has chosen us to be in relationship with him, and found ways, beyond all disruptions to his plans, to redeem us through Jesus, and adopt us as his children, and give us a family inheritance sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Now it’s time to get our life in order by sorting out who’s driving it, and if this is still primarily ourselves, then finding ways to let Jesus take over.

Song: “I’m Only Jesus” sung by Tim McGraw - Jesus awaits us allowing him into our life, and just can’t understand why we wouldn’t, given what he can do for us.

3. Steps to having Jesus in the Driver’s seat

(a) Knowing Jesus

Have we trawled enough through the pages of the Gospels to really soak up who Jesus was and is? Have we imagined what Jesus is saying to us in the pages of the Gospel accounts? If we have, then we would surely open our lives to Jesus (as did the people referred to in the latter verses of the earlier song). To fully trust Jesus enough to be in the driver’s seat of our lives, we need to continually reassure ourselves of his integrity and greatness revealed in the Bible. Unsure about Jesus – delve into his life! Just like the seeing-eye guide dog is the eyes of the blind person, we need to have Jesus as our eyes – interpreting for us all of the world’s complexity, so that we can best weave our way through toward living out our purpose.

Yet knowing Jesus is not only intellectual, but also deeply personal. We need to come to love Jesus as our brother, Saviour, friend and Lord. We can love him for the radical change he can make in the circumstances of our lives. Those that responded with the most love to Jesus were those who recognised and felt their lostness and then so appreciated the acceptance that Jesus showed them, for example the unwelcome prostitute who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed them with ointment and found forgiveness (Luke 7) and the hated tax collector Zacchaeus who converted from being a oppressive fraudster to a happy and generous benefactor (Luke 19).

(b) Knowing the power of Jesus’ resurrection

As Paul tells us, Jesus’ resurrection invests new life into us. This brings power to live in new, much more effective, much more satisfying, much more joyful, ways. We need to appreciate the living effective Jesus working through us in our daily interactions, through the various challenges that cross our path, and in all of our attempts to be on mission for God. We would need to ask ourselves the question, ‘Do other people experience the life of Jesus when they interact with us’? Would our neighbour say, ‘Now there is a different sort of person … they seem to have purpose, hope and peace’!

(c) Sharing in Jesus’ sufferings

Does this fill you with excitement … I guess not! This does not primarily mean going to a cross and emulating what Jesus did. For what Jesus did was a monumental one-time act to save us and all the people of the world. Yet in following Jesus there is often a cost. Sometimes sadly, as we heard recently, with the over 100 million Christians who are being persecuted for their faith around the world, suffering and even death is a real possibility as a result of publicly following Jesus. Of course, this is what Paul himself experienced.

Having said this however, this text in Philippians 3 is more about becoming involved in Jesus’ causes even at the risk of suffering and sacrifice (in what is sometimes a hostile world). Simply, what Jesus stood for, is what we stand for! We must be prepared to demonstrate our union with Jesus. If this is our mindset, then we are in a position to have Jesus in the driver’s seat – because our intentions and Jesus’ own priorities come into alignment and are compatible.

Jesus sacrificed everything in the cause of people being free to fully experience God. Is this where our mindset is? We should be so grateful and so enlivened by what Jesus has done for us, that we want others to experience at least the beginnings of this process as well.

We should want to be more like Jesus – obviously so. Interestingly, there is a curious tentative type statement in verse 11 that suggests that, even though Paul knew his salvation was secure, he knew he had a long way to go in becoming like Jesus … in fully knowing the power of Jesus’ resurrection and embracing Jesus’ suffering and mission. Paul’s own new life it would appear was a work in progress! Paul had a deep concern that he would be effectively engaged in representing the reality of Christ’s resurrection as the future unfolded. This introduces the notion (that follows in verse 12) of the life of faith being a journey.

(d) Pressing on

And so through all the doubts and challenges and tests that come our way, we should seek to keep our focus on Jesus. All of the faults and contradictions in our lives won’t be solved overnight. Just as Paul might have been criticised for being arrogant or dictatorial or unsympathetic at times, we will all have to face up to various uncomfortable assessments of ourselves at times. The important thing is that we seek and embrace personal growth with enthusiasm. Despite any shortcomings that could be raised against him, Paul was the greatest missionary the Christian gospel has ever had. We too, as we are, are filled with potential for transforming neighbourhoods and communities, and more so as we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s transformation. In his commentary on Philippians, HA Kent suggests that Paul is describing the Christian life as a “relentless centring of energies” on the course that is ahead.

Yet, those doing this series in their small group will hear Rick Warren on video commenting that knowing our true purpose will actually simplify our life. Because we have a more specific focus, we will not find ourselves trying to do too much, or being so frantically active, or so easily distracted, or dabbling in so many different things, or constantly changing interests, or wasting as much time, or doing meaningless activity. We become very selective what we do according to the parameters of our God-given purpose. Groups can have fun discussing that proposition!

(e) Looking forward through the windscreen

If you’re going to take a ‘road trip’, you better have Jesus in the driver’s seat. And if you’re going to take the ‘road trip’ of life, you better have your eyes fixed on the windscreen, much more so than on the rear-vision mirror. Now the rear-vision mirrors on cars are very useful to see what’s coming up behind or when reversing. But when checking on what’s coming behind, you just take brief glances, lest you don’t notice that the car in front of you has put on its brakes. Most of our driving is done looking forward through the windscreen.

This is like life needing to be lived looking forward. We occasionally need to look back in the rear-view mirror to learn from where we’ve been, but essentially life is lived in the present preparing for the future. Whereas there can be a sense of making up for the past, those mistakes in the past cannot be allowed to weigh us down in the present. Past sins should not absorb our thoughts or impede our progress. That is one of the main reasons Jesus died on the cross – to free us from the guilt of the past (so we wouldn’t remain prisoners to our sin).

To dwell on the misdeeds of the past is to waste Jesus’ act of mercy on the cross. Have you thought of it that way? We don’t like to waste food or money or any of God’s good gifts. To resist God’s forgiveness is to waste Jesus’ pain on the cross!

I have made many mistakes in the past … letting people down, failing to witness with integrity, serving my own ends; but I’ve had to let these things go in the wonder of God’s forgiveness, so that they didn’t restrain my usefulness in the present, and so they didn’t prevent me engaging in my true purpose. We don’t have to let the past determine our future or get in the way of God’s good plans for us; better to see these things as done with and settled.

The beginning of Psalm 32 reads:

"Oh what joy for those who disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight. Yes what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt."

Let go of your guilt and be free!!

With Jesus in the driver’s seat, our old destinations, similar to the ones Paul walked away from, are now off-limits. There will be no more turning down the dead-end streets of self-centredness, bitterness or wastefulness. No more off-road ventures into rubbish tips. We allow Jesus to design our itinerary, and see us through the bumps and pot-holes.

Live life looking through the windscreen – with Jesus in the driver’s seat!


The goal Paul is travelling towards is referred to as “the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (v.14). In this context, this is not just ‘salvation’ or ‘eternal life’ that Paul is referring to, but more so God’s heavenly purpose for Paul on earth. As Jesus taught us to pray (Matt 6:10b):

"[May] Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

We will discover our purpose in life and God’s best for us as we look forward through the windscreen and allow Jesus to take the steering wheel. We each have a unique contribution to make, and collectively we can make a special contribution to our local community with Jesus in the driver’s seat. We become the physical hands and feet of Jesus on earth as he pilots our life in good directions.