Finding Middle "C"

One of the marks of spiritual maturity is to recognize how far you still have to go. One author wrote in a commentary to this verse in this text, if after years of Christian living you think a time has come when your knowledge of Christ has advanced far enough that you can ease up, you're wrong.

We are to pursue Christ and his character and his attitude and his glory in the spring, the summer, the autumn, and in the dead of winter. Have you come to the place in your study of God's Word where you pretty much know all there is to know? Has your relationship with Jesus progressed to the point where you know him as well as is possible?

Of course not. The more we know Christ, the more we recognize how much we don't know. You and I are supposed to make Christ the center of our lives, and our pursuit of him is something that's not supposed to falter or diminish with time. This is Wisdom for the Heart with Steven Davey. In today's lesson, Steven will use the analogy of middle C on a piano keyboard to illustrate Christ being the center of our life.

Stay with us. Paul moves on to give several more encouragements that effectively tell the believer where to aim. In verse 15, one linguistic commentator pointed out, even though it doesn't show up at least in my translation as a new paragraph, that with verse 15, Paul is actually beginning a new section where he answers what this author called the so what question. Based on everything you've learned in the letter, well, so what? Now, how do we do this? How do we aim for the glory of God? How do we aim higher to please Christ?

What does that really look like? And I want to give you, as we work through these few verses, four very practical statements that summarize these next few lines. And the first one is this basic challenge from Paul, and it's this. Continually adjust your attitude.

Very basic, but very real. You know, I've heard it said, well, look at verse 15 first. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude.

I've heard it said that 10% of your life is made up of things that happened to you, and 90% of your life is made up of how you respond to what happened to you. You might be wondering, is it ever going to get any easier in the Christian life to respond the right way, immediately, easily, easily? Is it ever going to be easier to have the right attitude, which is very encouraging for me to read? And I want to point this out the way Paul describes this, because you'll notice how he began. It'd be easy to miss, but he writes at the beginning of verse 15, let us, I'm so glad for that pronoun, let us do this. Runge writes that this is the Greek equivalent of saying, let's all do this together.

We can do this together. Now this is the inspired apostle, right? This is the man given a tour of heaven. This is a man trained personally by the Holy Spirit for three years. This is the man through whom God gave most of the revelation of the New Testament church through, and he could easily say here, okay, all of you Philippians, get it right, adjust your attitude, have this attitude in you. And he says, let us, let us do this together. It's effectively implying Paul saying, you know, I'm older in the faith than most of you in the church there in Philippi, but I want you to know I still have to do the same thing every single day, adjust my attitude.

I'm still in the process of growing too. Now that might sound contradictory for those of you Bible students who've already skipped ahead. So let's go there. Let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude. And maybe you're thinking, well, no wonder Paul said us because he's perfect. I knew it.

I wouldn't be one of the us. And maybe you're discouraged. All the perfect people have this attitude. That can't be what Paul means. In fact, look back up at verse 12 where we already looked at it, but let me repeat it. Not that I have already obtained it. Paul writes or have already become perfect.

Same word. I haven't become perfect. Well, now we're confused in verse 12. Paul says he isn't perfect in verse 15.

He says he is perfect. Well, let me suggest you go back to verse 12, get out your pencil and circle the word perfect there at verse 12. And I want you to write into the margin next to verse 12, the words completely mature. That's what the word perfect means. Tell us it's used to contrast a child with a grown adult completely mature.

That's the context in which he uses the word there. Now, if you go down to verse 15, write the words evidencing maturity. Evidencing maturity. As many of us who are evidencing maturity and what is the evidence of someone who is evidencing maturity, it is someone who has this attitude, a right attitude.

Have this attitude. So what looks like a contradiction actually turns out to be a wonderful insight into the way I'm a touring believer talks about himself, thinks about herself. Paul is effectively saying here, if you put the verses together, I am maturing, but I am not completely mature yet. I'm being perfected into the image of Christ, but I'm not perfect yet. Those who are truly growing up in Christ understand that they have not arrived. And if anybody had the right to say, I've arrived, it would be him.

If he doesn't say it, we better be careful to suggest the same fact. Older Christians have come to the realization, haven't you? That the only one who has ever lived a perfect Christian life is Jesus Christ.

That's it. But those who are truly mature Ken Hughes writes in his wonderful little commentary, they refuse themselves even a satisfied glance at some past attainment. They, I love the way he put it, they run the race rather than imagine it is over and they've arrived. How the church needs to mirror this kind of humble attitude in every one of us who are growing and we understand the combination of these thoughts, I am growing, but I haven't arrived. I am maturing, but I'm not yet completely mature. I'm evidencing the character of Christ, but I'm not perfect like Christ. I'm reminded of one author who wrote about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village in England one afternoon and they walked by a man who was sitting there, an older man there at the fence and one tourist asked in a rather condescending manner, were there any great men born in your village?

The old man thought for a moment and then looked up and said, no, only babies. That's the spirit of Paul who is encouraging to all spiritual ages and so as he challenges this church with the so what related to what he's taught them, he says, I want you to know, look, I am not completely mature, but I am pressing on towards greater maturity. Why don't you come along and go with me? Don't you like that kind of believer? Don't you like that kind of mentor?

Don't you like that kind of teacher? Why don't you join me? Let's aim higher together. Let's have this attitude. Did you notice that that might bring to your mind a former study all the way back to chapter two and verse five, where Paul used the same word and said, have this attitude in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then he begins to lay out for us the amazing humility of our Lord.

And that's exactly then the context of where he's taking us. He wants us to evidence maturity in continually adjusting our attitude toward humility. Maturity equals humility. A genuinely maturing believer doesn't equal arrogance or pride or I'm here, I've arrived.

No. Let's have this attitude. Andrew Murie a few generations ago wrote in practical terms, he said, the insignificances of daily life are the tests that prove our humility. It's in our most unguarded moments that we show who we are. To know how the humble person behaves, you must follow them in the course of daily life.

What does this mean practically? Give in to your mate next time you disagree. Be eager to take the blame for failure. Quickly seek reconciliation with others. Hitting the bullseye in your Christian walk means that you're maturing but you are not quite there. Adjust your attitude accordingly to humility.

Secondly, let me give you another. It means that you always remain teachable. You always remain teachable. Look at the last part of verse 15. And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. Now what Paul is doing here is handing over the ultimate responsibility to God for adjusting someone's thinking.

I'm entrusting you to the Spirit of God who is the ultimate teacher. The Spirit of God will always lead you to act like the character of God. If you're not acting God-like, the Spirit isn't leading you.

God is pure and honest and gracious and more. Romans chapter one, verse four. Third, the Spirit of God will never encourage you to live in fear. That isn't the Spirit of God. Second Timothy one, verse seven. Fourth, the Spirit of God will always lead you to reject sin instead of defending or hiding sin. Galatians 5 17. The Spirit of God will always lead you out of guilt into repentance and renewed hope.

Titus 3 5. The enemy will say, well, that's it. That was the big one. You're done. That's the enemy. The Spirit of God says, no, repent. Repent. There's fresh hope every day. The Spirit of God finally will lead you to take action instead of giving up and defeat. Ephesians 6 18.

He's going to lead. He's going to give you steps. The Word of God and the Spirit of God through the Word of God in your own heart gives you steps to take a way to walk. The enemy will tell you you can't go any further.

Might as well quit. The apostle Paul wrote, by the way, almost every one of those texts I just referenced. He knew that a teachable believer had within him the greatest teacher of all by whom the spiritually minded are able to receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned. First Corinthians Chapter two and verse fourteen. So by adjusting our attitude by remaining teachable, the arrow, as it were, of our life is going to be aiming heading in the right direction. The Spirit of God will be coaching us along the way. Thirdly, while you're at it, keep this in mind.

Paul writes and I'll I'll paraphrase it this way. Refuse to slip into neutral. It's dangerous. Refuse to slip into neutral. Look at verse 16. However, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. What he means is this. What you've learned, don't give it up. Don't let up. If Paul is thinking in military terms, which some of my commentator friends believe he was, he's using this word to refer to marching in step. Don't break rank. Don't go AWOL. Stay with it. If he's thinking in athletic terms, which he could have been, he would be telling them to stay in the race or maybe even more specifically stay in your lane. Follow the rules of the engagement and stay on track. If he were to change it to a musical metaphor, Paul loved to talk about the church singing, which is what we have done, which is why it's part of our assembly.

It's biblical and right. Paul would be telling them to play at the right tempo. Don't lag behind. Practice what you know and don't lose it because you want to build on it. So don't let it slip away.

Stay with it. Paul knew that every believer in the church at Philippi was at a different level. He didn't tell all of them to march in the same way. He didn't tell all of them to race with the same skill. He wouldn't have told them all to play with the same abilities and skill. He's telling them effectively not to drop behind with whatever they've learned so far. Hang on to it. He's not talking about salvation.

He's talking about growing up and the strength of the Lord. I did this the last two hours and it seemed to go over okay, so I'll do it one more time. How many of you took piano lessons at some time in your life? Hold your hand and just hold it up really high. Look at all the concert pianists we have. It's amazing. Doug Bookman, you took piano lessons?

I just, I can't imagine. I've heard you sing. At any rate, that's... But don't lose it.

But you know what? We did, didn't we? That's why we aren't an audience of concert pianists because we slacked off. While I was in seminary, Marsha put me through by working full-time until we had kids of our last year and she worked full-time and I worked a variety of jobs part-time primarily to earn money and it went straight into books. We knew we needed a library and we entered the ministry and we entered the ministry in Cary, North Carolina.

So thankfully, we were able to buy a lot of good friends who now sit on shelves in my office. But I worked part-time and did a number of jobs in one seminary. I was the janitor there at the school.

I would go to class, change clothes, clean the bathrooms and vacuum all the carpet. And in another seminary, finally at Dallas, I was a courier and did a little bit of dabbling in Dallas tuning pianos which was a good way to earn money quickly. I'd go to a music store and there'd be all the pianos and they'd pay you about $25 and you could do one in an hour and a half or so or less. But the most money in the shortest amount of time was in teaching piano.

So after a while, I had a half a dozen students and kept them for a while. Usually, I'd meet parents at church and they would find out that I was teaching piano and they'd say, oh, we just have to have our son. He's a protege. Would you teach him?

And so I would say, sure. And so, you know, he'd show up and the little protege and I'd say, do you know how to play anything, son? You know, show me what you know. Oh, I know how to play the piano. Oh, you do?

Well, what do you know? Just watch. That kid's not a protege. He's a project. And the parents have sent little Beethoven to me because they're sick of it. But at any rate, this is why parents are willing to pay a piano teacher $300 a minute.

Get him away, please. Well, do you know anything else, son? I'd always ask, you know, what else do you know? And I could tell you I knew what was coming. And he'd say, oh, I can play this all over the piano.

Really? What is it? I can play it down here. I can play it up here. Son, if you play that again, I'm going to break your fingers.

That's what I would say. But then I would have the privilege of introducing to this kid this amazing instrument. Thanks to Mr. Steinway, it finally stopped at 88 keys and sort of structured it that way. 52 white keys, 36 black keys.

And I would say to him, I want to teach you the very first thing you need to know, and that is the most important note. It centers everything. In fact, where you sit, you're going to put that right in the middle of your body because that centers everything.

It's the 24th note, but to keep you from having to bother counting, here it is. It happens to be middle C. We all got that part. That's about as far as we got. Middle C. Why don't you play that? That's the middle of everything.

And what we're going to do is we're going to build off that, and I'd sit down for him. And I'd say, we're going to take that middle C, which is the center of everything on this incredible instrument. We're going to learn the scale of that. We're going to learn the scale of C until you can do that in your sleep and drive your parents crazy doing that.

Better than body and soul. And then after that, you're going to be able to chord. We're going to learn to chord C with the derivatives of the tonic. And then eventually you're going to be able to play the chords of C all the way up, and you just practice that. Doesn't that sound so much better? And then eventually you're going to be able to over time play arpeggios in the key of C. And you can just do this for a long time.

Isn't it? The kid just sitting there, yeah, that's great. And then eventually we'll be able to learn how to play some real songs in the key of C. And I might have him sing with me and I love this most of all. So why don't you sing? Jesus loves me.

Sing in the key of C. Ready? Here we go. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

Jesus. I can't hear you. Now if the apostle Paul was going to use this metaphor, what he's just said in that text is basically, look, some of you in the body, you're learning where middle C is. And some of you are learning, you're struggling through the scales. You're getting the scales down. Some of you have moved on to chords and some of you are mastering the arpeggios. And some of you went way beyond where I ever went and you're playing concertos. The point that Paul would be making is if you play the concerto, you never want to go back to chopsticks.

Okay? That's the point he's making. With whatever you have attained, don't slip into neutral. It's one thing, by the way, for all of us to raise our hand and then not be able to play the piano. That's one thing.

And that's really kind of sad actually, isn't it? Wouldn't it be great if we were all really accomplished? But it's another thing entirely to miss our purpose in life. And to, with anything less than passion, pursue what I believe, and in fact it struck me that Jesus Christ, Christ is the middle C. Christ is the center of all of the keys. Everything relates back to him. We center our lives around Christ. All the chords of life build off it.

He is the foundation for everything. And maybe you're thinking, boy, I just wish I could do more and no more. Do you know where middle C is?

Great. Start there and never get away from it. One author wrote in a commentary to this verse in this text, if after years of Christian living you think a time has come when your knowledge of Christ has advanced far enough that you can ease up, you're wrong. We are to pursue Christ and his character and his attitude and his glory in the spring, the summer, the autumn, and in the dead of winter. And don't slip from where you are and what you know into neutral.

You will always coast down. I'm talking about strength in Christ. I think of Solomon, the son of David, a man with incredible skill and industry. He knew everything from poetry to botany, from engineering to architecture.

Unbelievably, he was a protege, truly. His father David planned it. Solomon was able to build it. And it was one of the wonders of the ancient world, so splendid we can only imagine it. Those who had seen it built and then a later one built wept because it was so different from the glorious temple of Solomon, much of it covered in solid gold. It was his greatest achievement, the temple of God. I find it tragically ironic that near the end of his life in a rather private journal we call the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon reflects on really to me how far he digressed.

He rattles off one accomplishment after another, one achievement after another. And here near the end of his life, though, Solomon never mentions one time the temple. I wonder if he was haunted by other designs on that hill of shame where his wives worshiped false gods and he more than likely was instrumental in the design of those temples. Or perhaps worse, it didn't matter.

That's how much he had forgotten. Paul says, take what you have and what you know, don't slip into neutral, continually adjust your attitude, always remain teachable, refuse to slip into neutral. One more, imitate people worth following. Imitate people worth following. Verse 17, brethren, join in following my example.

The word example, he shifts the metaphor now to architecture, it's the word for blueprint. See, that's the implication. If some younger believer in our midst chose to copy the pattern of our lives, would there be something we'd rather they not know or see? See, it ultimately swings back around to us by implication and application.

This isn't just an exhortation to find somebody to imitate, it is to become the kind of person worthy of being imitated. And none of us are off the hook. This is to the church and to every believer, so can we help each other? Can we help our world? Can we lead other people to find middle sea? Christ, that's our target.

That's a life worth something. Making Christ your middle sea, how? Adjusting your attitude, choosing to stay teachable, refusing to slip into neutral, imitating people worth following and thereby becoming someone worth following, not for your glory or for mine, but for Jesus Christ who is the center of our lives, our Savior and our God. With that thought ringing in our ears, we bring this lesson to a close.

You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Today's lesson from Philippians 3 is from a series Stephen's calling, Aiming Higher. This lesson is entitled, Finding Middle Sea. The goal of our ministry is to point you to Jesus Christ through the teaching of His Word. In addition to this daily broadcast, we also have books, commentaries, Bible study guides and other resources, and they're all designed to equip and encourage you in your walk with Christ. You'll find all of those resources on our website, wisdomonline.org. Explore that website today. If you'd like to send Stephen a card, letter or note of encouragement, please address your correspondence to Wisdom for the Heart, P.O.

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