Only One Coat

"Only One Coat"
Philippians 3:7-14


The question we need to ask, in light of what Paul wrote to the Philippian church, is, How many coats did Paul decide to wear?

Through a confrontation with the Risen Christ, Paul was suddenly brought to the realization that he had on an old coat.  That old coat wasn't going to do anymore. His old religion was tattered and falling apart.  It wasn't going to sustain his life anymore.  Paul may have been a gung-ho kind of person, but he was gung-hoing in the wrong direction.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."  Paul was good at making stands.  It's just that the foundation upon which he was standing was not going to hold him up anymore.  Paul was good at being goal oriented.  But all his goals were skewed because they set him on a direction that was contrary to God.

What do you do when you get a glimpse of yourself through the eyes of God in that condition:  with an old coat?  In other words, what do you do when your life isn't going to work the way it used to?  What happens when you wake up and find out the direction your life was heading, the goals you had set for yourself, no matter how comfortable they were, just don't fit anymore?

The answer is, you find a new direction, set new goals--start looking for a new coat that you can wear.  But the problem is, the answer is in itself a problem.  There is a law in the universe that every empty place must be filled.  Every empty place can not remain empty.  It will be filled with something, even if it's just air.

So here's the problem.  Once you decide you need new goals, or a new direction for your life, there are all kinds of choices out there.  All kinds of goals and directions are just waiting to be sucked into the empty space that's been created in your life.  All of them will challenge each other for your attention.  A lot of your choices will be good; some bad.  Weeding out the bad options is not quite as hard as having to decide between all the good alternatives.  But even though they all may be good, you still can't have them all.  You must choose.

In one Frank and Ernest cartoon, Frank and Ernest have walked up to a lady at an Information Booth.  Frank is lifting up his arms exclaiming to the woman, "You're a godsend!  There's lots of things we don't know!"  Or there's Siri.  Mark Graber is a big fan of Siri.  Talks to her all the time.  Tonie isn't a big fan.  One time Mark asked Tonie about some directions or something, and Tonie replied, "Why don't you ask the girl in your pocket."  One of the things we don't know the most, when looking for direction, is how to choose between a number of alternatives and how to choose the best one or the right one.

Paul wrote:
Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung.  I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.

Paul looked at all the alternatives that were available to him to organize his life around.  His Jewish background and upbringing was eliminated.  There was no end to philosophical, social, political, religious ways that Paul could have pulled in line with.  Or he could have mixed and matched, putting on any combination of "coats."  But he didn't.

Paul knew to do that would only serve to incumber himself all over again with that which didn't matter.  Instead, he made the strategic decision to simplify his life, simplify his goals, and shed himself down to only one new coat.  To put on too many would have served only to immobilize him and his effectiveness.

At  some point, you need to realize the wisdom of Paul.  Concentrate on one thing in life.  His wise choice to simplify back to one focus, also happens to be his mission.  That focus, that mission, was Jesus Christ.  Focus on Christ alone; nothing else matters, ultimately.

At one point in Alice In Wonderland, Alice said to the Chesire Cat, "Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," the cat replies.
"I don't care much where," Alice says.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," says the cat.

Paul found out which way he knew he was supposed to go.  He cared about his direction.  He wasn't going to just wander through life.  He picked out a single goal--knowing Jesus Christ--and pursued that goal singularly.  Paul defined himself by what he accepted as a goal.  That definition process also means rejecting all other goals available to you.  To define your life in one way means that you aren't defining yourself in other ways.  What you choose will cause you grief, because it means you can't choose something else.

There were three boys playing in a field of deep snow.  One of them said, "Let's have a race.  Only the race will not be who can go the fastest, but who can run in the straightest line."  They all thought that was a fun idea.  So they lined up and spied a certain tree across the field and decided that would be their goal.  On the count of three they started off.

In order to run the straightest line, one boy decided to keep his eyes on his feet.  He thought keeping one foot going in front of the other would surely make the straightest line in the snow.  The next boy decided to watch the boy who was watching his feet.  Surely that way he could also run a straight line.  The third boy understood best what he needed to do.  He kept his eyes on the tree at the other end of the field of snow--he kept his eyes on the goal.  Which one do you think will win?  Which one will run the straightest line?

Paul is keeping his eyes on the goal.  He's not keeping his eyes on himself.  He's not keeping his eyes on anyone else, hoping somehow that somebody else can get him to his goal.  He's keeping his eyes focused on Jesus Christ alone.  He took his eyes off of all other goals, and let Jesus Christ alone define everything he is and does.  Only one coat, so to speak.