Motives and Goals
April 07, 2019*
By Pastor John Partridge
Isaiah 43:16-21 John 12:1-8 Philippians 3:4b-14
What are your goals?
We have all kinds of goals. We have life goals, we have career goals, every year at charge conference time we set aside time to talk about church goals – and we’ve set some fairly ambitious one this year – and sometimes our only goal is to make it through the week until Friday or just to make it through the day that we’re having.
When we were kids, our goals were to be movie stars, or fire fighters, or to be like Evel Knievel, or Clint Eastwood. As we got older, we started to think about what major field of study we wanted to pursue in college, or what trade school or other training that we wanted to have. Still later, we thought about getting married and starting a family, buying a house, relocating because of a job, and all sorts of other things. Some of our goals change as we grow, mature, and develop and others stay the same. Without thinking about it, many of us have set goals to stay in love with our spouses and families, to stay in touch with the people that we care about, to save for retirement, to leave the planet a better place for our grandchildren, and maybe even leave a little something behind for our family members, and for the causes, that we care about when we die.
But goals are not always noble. Sometimes people’s goals are simply to get rich, to be more powerful, to be like the prodigal son and spend themselves in the pleasures of the world and “wild living.” Those goals and motives can be dangerous for the people that have them as well as for the people around them. It’s easy to be hurt by someone whose motivation has nothing to do with compassion and everything to do with getting ahead, climbing the ladder of success, and “looking out for number one.” And we’ve all probably lost count of the number of Hollywood stars and starlets, politicians, rock stars, and others who overdosed, or otherwise flamed out because of the excesses that they pursued.
So, what goals should we set? Is there such a thing as a spiritual goal? Sure, there is.
And so, we begin this morning in Isaiah 43:16-21, where God begins by reminding the people of his resume so that they will remember his character, his heart, compassion, and love for his people.
16 This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
These first few verses are simply God reminding the people of Israel who he is and what he has done for them, but once he reminds them of where they once were, God tells them that they need to lay aside the past so that they can be prepared to accept the future. God declares that even though the people were familiar with thirst after living in the desert wilderness for forty years, God is the god who creates streams in the desert and provides water for his people to drink. God makes it clear that his motives are simply the love and compassion that he has for his people.
And then in John 12:1-8, we hear a story that is familiar, but if we pay attention, we can see that everything in it revolves around the motives of the characters in it:
12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
There is a stark contrast between the motives of Mary and the motives of Judas in this story. I spoke more extensively about their motives this past Monday at the Lenten luncheon at Vine Street United Methodist Church, in my message “Extravagant Motives,” but for today I just want to point out that although Judas was the one to protest, Mary probably shocked everyone in the room when she poured out what, in the twenty-first century United States, would be about $55,000 worth of perfume onto Jesus’ feet. Judas, of course, only wanted his piece of the pie. He complained about how many poor people they could feed with that kind of money, but what he really wanted was to dip his hand into the money bag and get some of that for himself. Judas’ motivation was “looking out for number one.” But Mary is held up as a role model for all of us who would follow Jesus because her only motivation was her love for Jesus and her desire to honor him.
And then in his letter to the church in Philippi (Philippians 3:4b-14), the Apostle Paul writes in a way that is similar to what we heard in Isaiah. Paul begins by discussing his credentials or his resume, and then proceeds to throw it all away and start over.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 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; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 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. 13 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 toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul says that he has every reason to be proud of who he is. He was born into the right family, knew all the right people, followed all the right religious and doctrinal requirements, rigorously followed all the laws of God as dictated by the strict rules of the Pharisees, and, as far as anyone can testify, he lived, in every way, in compliance with God’s law.
But that wasn’t enough.
Paul declares that his motives and his goals are at the core of what he is doing. From the very beginning, even as a Pharisee, Paul has always been motivated by a desire to honor God and do what was right and that motivation didn’t change after he met Jesus. While his goals changed because of his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his motives remained the same.
But, once Paul met Jesus, everything on his resume, and all of the things that he once thought to be important, he now considers to be a loss to him, these things that were once important are now useless, in fact, the Greek word that Paul uses for “garbage” (sku-ba-lon) was rarely used in the ancient world and seems only to be used for effect and shock value much as we might use the profane word for poop, but this was the word that was used for the vilest of stinking, excrement filled, cast-off garbage in the downhill garbage pit of the city where the sewers emptied out which was also the place where the remains of sacrificial animals and butcher store leftovers were thrown. Compared to the immense value of Jesus Christ, Paul says that everything that he once held to be valuable was now left behind as something that was utterly disgusting and despicable.
Paul knew that everything that he once held dear, was totally unable to save him and only through faith in Jesus Christ, and the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, was able to offer him anything of value. With that in mind, Paul’s new goal was to become more and more like Jesus. He freely admitted that he wasn’t there yet, he was still far from perfect, but his goal was to press on, straining toward what was ahead and leaving behind everything that was past so that he could reach the prize that was only to be found in Jesus Christ.
Paul was like most of the people in the twenty first century world around us. He had tried getting ahead, climbing the ladder of success, and “looking out for number one.” Paul had been born in to the right family, knew all the right people, followed all the laws, played by the strict rules of the Pharisees, and lived, in every way, in compliance with God’s law. But none of that was enough.
None of that was enough.
Once he met Jesus, he considered all of his accomplishments to be of no more value than the piles of crap and rotting carcasses in the garbage dump.
Once Paul met him on the road to Damascus, the only thing that made any sense was the goal of becoming like Jesus. And that one goal drove absolutely everything that Paul did for the rest of his entire life.
What did you say were your goals again?
Let us, together, press on toward the goal of Jesus Christ. Let us forget what is behind us, and strain toward what is ahead. Let us press on toward the goal, to win the prize, for which God has called us heavenward in Jesus Christ.
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