Christ is the Prize | Philippians 3:12-16

Siva Moodley was a popular mega church pastor in Johannesburg. He was a self-styled “apostle” who taught the typical prosperity gospel message: if we’re a new creation in Christ, then our lives should be lives of victory, no sickness, attaining sinless perfection, full of miracles. Health, wealth and happiness. Heaven on earth. He even believed that if you had enough faith, you would not die. In 2021, he got seriously sick. Realising he was dying, he “prophesied” that he would be raised from the dead. On 14 August 2021 he died. Because of this prophecy, his family decided not to bury him, but kept his body in the morgue, anticipating his immanent resurrection. Eventually, after two years in the fridge, realising nothing was going to happen, he was buried.

As crazy and bizarre as all this sounds, this sort of belief is more common in our context than you may realise. And these views are actually nothing new. Paul faced similar heresies in the early church – specifically in Philippi. The same heresies have resurfaced throughout church history. Essentially, the belief that Christians can attain the fullness of their salvation now. That it is possible to attain perfection this side of eternity. It sounds nice, but is actually incredibly destructive.

Paul counters this heresy in our text, showing that believers will never be perfect this side of eternity. We still struggle with sin and the darkness in the midst of this cursed world. Yet we are not hopeless – we live lives in pursuit of our goal, Christ himself. What we will see is that because Christ has made us his own, we can press on toward the goal of our salvation.

Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.

For more information about Covenant Waterfall Presbyterian Church, please check out our website: http://covenantwaterfall.co.za or email us: info@covenantwaterfall.co.za. We'd love to hear from you!