In our physical lives, at this time of year, we call it 'Spring Cleaning.' That is when we start to go into the bedrooms and into the closets to clean out things that no longer are of importance to us, or a treasure, like they once were. We get down into the basement, looking into all of the corners. We go into the garage. We even look in the cupboards and the cabinets. And there, we again start to clean out things that once were of great importance to us. They were a treasure, but they no longer are, anymore. Those things end up out at the curb, or in the trash. Maybe they find their way to the recycling bin, or on their way to the secondhand store. In a physical sense, particularly this time of year, we do that 'Spring Cleaning.'

Today, let's do some spiritual spring cleaning. Let's look at things in our lives, from a spiritual standpoint, to see if it is trash or rubbish in our lives, or if it is treasure. To help us along with that, we look at our Epistle Lesson from today, taken from Philippians Chapter three. This really is what the Apostle Paul is talking about - what is trash in our lives, and what is treasure?

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 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 and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

These are your Words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth, for your Word is truth.

Amen

The Apostle Paul thought that he had something to brag about. He thought that he was able to brag about who he was, the heritage that he came from, and what he had done. In the two verses prior to our text for today, the Apostle Paul lays out who he was and what he had done. This is what he said about himself. "I was circumcised on the eighth day. Of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, in regards to the law, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless."

If there was somebody who could be saved by who he was or what he had done, it was the Apostle Paul. After all, in keeping with the law, he was circumcised on the eighth day. He was an Israelite. As a matter of a fact, he was from the tribe of Benjamin, (only one of two tribes that came back after captivity, along with Judah). He was a Pharisee, keeping the law to its nth degree.

Again, if someone could be saved by who he was, or what he had done, it was the Apostle Paul.

And yet, in our text, Paul comes right out and tells us "I can't be saved by who I am. I can't be saved by what I have done, and those things I have treasured in life. Look at who I am and who I have come from." He says,

"I consider them rubbish."

We have heard of Martin Luther's thunderstorm promise, before. He promised to become a monk, if God saved him from that thunderstorm. If somebody could be saved by being a monk, it was Martin Luther. Martin Luther constantly confessed his sins, beating himself up, and pouring himself into God's Word. If somebody could be saved by being a monk, and doing what he did, it was Martin Luther. And yet, Martin Luther said the same thing that the Apostle Paul said. Those things are rubbish if they get in the way of our relationship with Christ.

If I were to follow that same logic that the Apostle Paul used, or that Martin Luther may have used, I may put it something like this. "My great grandfather came here from Norway. (That was my great grandfather, Bernt. I was named after him.) My grandfather was a pastor in our synod for about 70 years. My dad worked for Bethany Lutheran College for a little over 30 years. And, I am a pastor. Look at me! And look at who I am and where I have come from!"

"But it does not matter who I am descended from. It doesn't matter what I have done. If I consider things a treasure that gets in the way of my relationship with Christ, those things need to be set aside, and treated like trash, or rubbish."

Sometimes, as members of a congregation, we can fall into that same kind of logic, and look at who we come from and what we have done. Maybe you have heard phrases like this before. "My family was a charter member at this congregation." "My grandma taught Sunday School for fifty years!" "I went to the Lutheran Elementary School." "I come from a Christian family." "I was baptized." "I was confirmed."

If we follow logic like that, and look at who it is we are descended from, and what it is that we have done, and those things get in the way with our relationship with Christ, we need to set those things aside, and treat them like rubbish, or like trash, just like the Apostle Paul did.

We quickly come to the realization that the best that we have to offer is only trash. And, just as a ship's captain may throw luggage and baggage overboard in order to save a floundering ship from sinking, really that is what the Apostle Paul did. He took those things that he so treasured in life, and set them aside, because they were getting in the way of his relationship with his Savior, Jesus. The best that he had to offer, and the best that we have to offer, is trash, because the only real treasure that we have in life is our Savior, Jesus.

The only real treasure in life

is our Savior,

Jesus.

The treasure of Jesus is the perfect life that He lived for us. And the treasure of Jesus is the death that He died on the cross, to forgive us of our sin, and to give us eternal life, with Him, in Heaven.

And that is what the Holy Spirit does. He brings to us the treasure of our Savior, Jesus, as we come together to hear God's Word. The Holy Spirit brings to us the treasure of our Savior, Jesus, when we gather around the regular use of the Sacraments. There we see, once again, that the only treasure in life is our Savior, Jesus.

Now, what I have said to this point so far in my sermon this morning is straight forward - the facts that God's Word presents to us.

It is us who are sinners. We are the trash. But, we have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

We are trash

but

Jesus is our treasure.

That leads to the most challenging part of our life. It is in the last paragraph of our scripture text that the Apostle Paul encourages us to lead a trash-free life. The Apostle Paul is talking about how he knows what trash and rubbish is in life, and that Jesus is our only treasure. Now he gets into the challenging part of our text. He says,

"Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, 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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

We must forget what is behind and we must strain on toward what is ahead. Now, just as a runner, running a race, does not look behind, but is looking ahead, so we, as believers, live in this life. We can't look back, anymore. We have to be forward thinking. If we are to look back at our sin and our past failures, it can only lead to despair. Or, if we are to look behind us and look at our past accomplishments and pat ourselves on the back, it can only lead to righteous pride.

We need to leave the past behind us, and what it is that we have done, and who it is that we come from, because those things if they get in the way of our relationship with our Savior Jesus are rubbish. They are trash.

We need to strain toward what is ahead, and know that the only treasure in life is our Savior, Jesus. And, we cling to that by faith, with the Holy Spirit working and strengthening that faith in Jesus, as our Savior, stronger and stronger each and every day.

Maybe you have already done so, but in the weeks to come you may be going throughout your house and doing some 'Spring Cleaning.' That will take you into the bedroom closets, maybe even into your cupboards and cabinets, down into the basement into the corners, maybe even out into the garage. You will come across things that you thought were treasure. Now you see those things and think, "What am I hanging on to this for?" Out it will go in the rubbish, to the curb, maybe to the recycling container, or maybe to the secondhand store.

The Apostle Paul once treasured who he was and what he had done. But, he saw those things were rubbish and trash, because they got in the way of his relationship with Jesus. Sometimes, we too, want people to look at who are and what we have done. But, if that gets in the way of our relationship with Christ, we need to set those things aside and treasure the only real priceless treasure that we have. And, that is our Savior, Jesus.

And so may we be, like the Apostle Paul, as he encourages us in the very last sentence of our scripture reading for today.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize

for which God has called me heavenward

in Christ Jesus."

Amen.