I’m so excited to be here. My message today is called a Resume that God Can’t Ignore, and we are going to find out more about what Paul has to say about that.

Michael Gill had everything in his life. At 50 years old, he had a mansion, a beautiful wife, and beautiful children. He had a six figure salary and an Ivy League education. Now at 63, as he sat down in Starbucks he was at the lowest point in his life. He was unemployed, divorced, and his mansion gone. Drinking his coffee he contemplated where he was going next. Suddenly, unbeknownst to him, Starbucks was having a job fair and the woman seated next to him asked him if he wanted a job.

Well, the former creative director of the largest advertising agency on the planet said, “yes”, he would like a job. He was at the end to a most disappointing moment but ready for a new beginning---a transforming moment, because at 63 he realized that life was worth more than external successes. He wrote that his experience saved him from his pursuit of empty symbols of temporary importance from the anxiety over what he calls his fear-filled superficial life that he honestly never enjoyed.

So may I ask this question: Is there a way that we can live better right now? Can we live in a way that values external success much less than the things that really matter at the end of my life? And as I step into eternity, those are the things that I want to hold onto and lay at the feet of Jesus.

We are going to talk about how we can have a life of insurmountable significance because of Christ’s love for us.

We all can experience a priority shifting encounter with Christ’s love when we understand three incredible truths that Paul reveals to the Philippians.

The Bible says, “Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the
Lord!” (Phil. 3:1)

Paul says to rejoice because he warns people about how they can get frustrated about things or events that happen in their lives. And he warns people about evil-doers who are constantly oppressing and bullying the innocent. Furthermore, we know that as we rejoice in singing and give praise, that joy becomes our strength and is exactly what we need as we walk through the valley with God.

1. ACTIVELY AND INTENTIONALLY REJOICE IN THE LORD.

It is something we must do and rehearse. And if that rejoicing is often in the context of praise or in testimony, then I want the lyrics of my life’s song to be a rehearsal of the good things that God has done: the times He has healed me, set me free, restored my struggling marriage, and when He helped me through my low point. I want to rehearse those moments so I can rejoice in truth. Then there is no lie, no deception, and no thing that can come against me that will get me off course because I rejoice in the Lord.

In Phil. 3: 4&7 Paul says, “If someone else thinks they have reasons to
put confidence in the flesh, I have more...But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”

2. YOUR SPRITUAL RESUME ISN’T WHAT YOU DO, IT’S WHO YOU PURSUE.

Just as Paul said that the things once important to him was nothing now, I too have struggled with the fact that I often felt like I had to improve my resume so that I could be ready for the next door of opportunity. But Jesus is more interested in me and not what I have accomplished.

That is why Paul says,

“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.” (Phil. 3:8)

3. IT’S NOT JUST HE > I, IT’S HE IS > THAN ALL.

Paul went from being a persecutor to being the persecuted, from being the antagonist of the church to being the biggest advocate. He spent his whole life in the discipline of the Jewish law---the religious of the religious---and took his resume and all the things that he was proud of, he valued, and was important, and lay it on top of a garbage heap and said that that’s where it belongs.

So does it mean that my degree is not worth it or the years at my job is worthless? No, but we need to put our priorities where they should be. Compared to the infinite love, the infinite glory of the risen Christ, our accomplishments just don’t and never will measure up.

It is as if I was in the interview room and Jesus was sitting on the other side looking at my resume. And I am disappointed that He is not impressed.  But maybe Jesus is sliding my resume back and saying, “I just want to know you, and I want you to know me. I want you to know me the way a father knows a child or the way a husband knows a wife.”

Billy Graham once said, “I’m excited about the work that God did, but there’s some things that I wish I had done differently. I wish I had spent more time with my family. And I wish that I had spoken less and instead spent more time at the feet of Jesus.”

When we have Jesus and His will for our lives placed at the top of our priorities, then we will rejoice in the Lord, because we realize that He is greater than everything. Then our relationships are different and petty things don’t matter.  I don’t want to argue about the full sink of dishes or whatever else that could frustrate me. Now I don’t need to do that because I love my wife with the love that Christ has for me.

Paul wrote that true love rejoices in the truth. Indeed, Jesus’ true love doesn’t remember or rehearse our road to Damascus. He doesn’t rehearse my old life. He’s actually singing a new song over me.

In concluding, can you picture yourself sitting at the table with Jesus in your own home? Your resume is now a blank paper and Jesus dips His pen in the blood that He shed on the cross and He writes, “I am yours, and you are mine. This is your new resume, and this is the only thing that matters to me.”

Because in the end of your life and at the end of my life, as I breathe my last, as I rejoice in the goodness of God and rehearsal of the good things and the healing, and the restoration, and the power and the freedom, what will be welcome me into eternity is that face, that smiling face of Jesus that says, “I like this resume. You did good, son. Welcome home. “

Questions:

1. Is there a way that we can live better right now?

2. Why do people get stuck in jobs they don’t even enjoy?

3. What are the three incredible truths that Paul reveals to the Philippians?

4. Why did Paul consider his past accomplishments garbage?

5. What is Jesus truly interested in about you?