New Ambition

New Ambition: Pastor Hilmy Nor

This Sunday at CDC, we were privileged to have Pastor Hilmy Nor preach on the topic “New Ambition”, based on Philippians 3:7-21.

There are basically two types of ambition, worldly ambition and spiritual ambition. Worldly ambition is obvious to us. Even from a young age, a child has an occupational ambition to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a superstar, etc. and quite often, parents have ambitions on behalf of their children. As we grow older, most of us have worldly ambitions to earn lots of money, to travel in luxury, to stay in big houses and drive big cars. However, Pastor Hilmy draws our attention to the more important ambition, Spiritual Ambition.

Some people may think spiritual ambition may mean desiring to be the Senior Pastor, famous worship leader, theologian, writer or TV evangelist. However, this too, Pastor Hilmy classifies as worldly ambition if the root in desiring these things is for fame or popularity. Instead, from the writings of the Apostle Paul we are encouraged to focus on two simple ambitions:

-         Know Christ

-         Be like Christ

… I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, Philippians 3:8

Our first and foremost spiritual ambition is to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything else is immaterial when compared to the greatness of knowing Jesus!

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, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11

Secondly, our spiritual ambition must also be focused on becoming like Jesus. Ephesians 5:1 says that we must be imitators of God! The Book of Hebrews exhorts us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. We need to learn to be focused like Christ, to sacrifice like Christ, to love like Christ!

Pastor Hilmy then highlights 3 things we should do in pursuing our ambition to know Christ and to be like Him

(i)                  Forget the past:- Paul asks us to forget what is behind…. We need to recognize that we are forgiven, to let go of the past and move on towards where God is calling us!

(ii)                Do not be distracted:- Paul exhorts us to press on, straining towards what is ahead. Paul warns us not to be like those who live as enemies of Christ because their minds are on earthly things.

(iii)               Follow Paul’s example:- As an excellent mentor who lived as he preached, Paul exhorts others to follow his example, as He follows Christ’s example!

In closing, Pastor Hilmy summarizes 3 more important aspects of Paul’s life, and Christ’s life that we would do well to imitate!

(i)                  Live a life of love:- Love is the foundation of Christianity, so we who are in Christ must walk in love and truth like Jesus did!

(ii)                Be holy:- As God’s people, we need to be holy and avoid immorality

(iii)               Live as children of light:- Our Lord Jesus said “I am the light of the world” and to His disciples “You are the light of the world!”. We need to live a life rich with good deeds, just like Jesus did!

God bless,

Jason