On One Thing after Another

Something to gnaw on as we put some effort into the Passiontide upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The bones of a Passion Sunday sermon with reference to Php 3.13-14 and the Lenten spiritual disciplines: self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, alms-giving and reading and meditating on these few verses of God’s holy Word in particular: 

But 

one thing 

I do:

forgetting what lies behind

and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal

for the prize of the upward call of God

in Christ Jesus. 

(Php3.13-14)

SELF EXAMINATION

But the Lord answered her,

“Martha, Martha,

you are anxious and troubled about many things, but 

one thing 

is necessary.

Mary has chosen the  good portion,

which will not be taken away from her. 

(Luke 10:41–42)

REPENTANCE

Whether he is a sinner I do not know. 

One thing  

I do know,

that though I was blind,

now I see.

(John 9:25)

PRAYER

One thing 

have I asked of the Lord, 

that will I seek after: 

  that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 

all the days of my life, 

  to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple. 

(Psalm 27:4)

FASTING

A person cannot receive even 

one thing 

unless it is given him from heaven.

(John 3:27)

ALMSGIVING

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 

“One thing 

you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22)

The full sermon can be found at 0:59:15 here.