There's a famous story about an eagle's egg that somehow ends up in a chicken coop.

The eaglet hatches and is raised among the chickens. It learns to cluck and scratch in the dirt for grubs. It pecks at the ground, never looking up, because that's what chickens do.

One day, a biologist sees this magnificent bird with its powerful wings, acting like a chicken.

He lifts the eagle up and says, "You are not a chicken! You are an eagle! You belong not to the earth, but to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly!"

The eagle, confused, just wants to get back to the familiar dirt.

But the biologist carries it to a high mountain, looks it in the eye, and says again, "You are an eagle. Fly!"

He then flings the bird into the air. The eagle, terrified, begins to fall, but then, instinctively, it stretches its mighty wings, catches the wind, and soars into the heavens for the first time, never to return to the chicken coop again.

I don't know how your story goes. Where you came from. How you got where you are.

But I do know that you were created to soar. I do know that, if you have Jesus, you were born again with a new nature so that you are a new creation, designed for the heights of God's presence and power.

And the great tragedy is that you have been raised in the "chicken coop" of a fallen world's thinking, scratching in the dirt of fear, anxiety, and self-effort.

But here's the good news: God brought you here today not to tell you to try harder to be an eagle, but to believe better in who you already are. Believe better in a Father who gave you the wings of a glorious new nature. Believe better in your life's great potential to stop scratching in the dirt and start exploring the vastness of a star-studded sky that is your sacred birthright as a child in the royal family of heaven.

The Shepherd of the Stars sent me here to tell you personally today that he loves you better than you think he does, he has forgiven you more than you realize he has, and therefore your life will be better than you ever dreamed possible.

Welcome to part 11 in our series through the book of Philippians called: Quit Telling Yourself I Can't.

As we've been listening to God one paragraph at a time through this book, today we at long last arrived at Philippians 2:17-30.

This paragraph is different. It isn't teaching. It's about 3 people and their stories... actually their hearts. Actually, it's about heroic hearts on display.

I'd like to introduce you to these men today. My talk is called: Quit Taming Your Inner Hero

Or we could call it: Quit pecking bugs with the chicken when you were meant to soar.

So how do you go from scratching in the dirt to soaring in the sky? The eagle doesn't do it by flapping its wings harder than a chicken. The eagle soars when it learns to catch the invisible currents of wind—the updrafts—that were there all along.

In the same way, God doesn't call you to try harder to be a hero.

He invites you to spread the wings of your faith and catch the powerful updrafts of His grace. The updrafts of the Holy Spirit.

Paul, from his prison cell, is about to show you three of these supernatural updrafts that will lift your soul into the sky where it belongs.

The Updraft of a Heroic Mind (Philippians 1:17-18, Paul)
"Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me." (Philippians 2:17-18)

This isn't the language of a victim. This is the language of a champion.

This is the mind of an eagle, not a chicken. It's a mind that has learned to think from heaven down, not from earth up. Paul doesn't just think about heaven; he thinks from his royal seat in heaven. From up there, he looks down here at his circumstances through the eyes of Jesus.

The world's reality says, "Paul you're going to be executed."
But Paul's heroic mind reframes that line. "Oh, is that what you call it? An execution? I call it being poured out as a drink offering."

Before Jesus died and rose again, there was a very refined sacrificial system. It was profoundly meaningful. These sacrifices were highly symbolic rituals. They symbolized deep truths about Jesus. Specifically, they symbolized his death and our salvation.

In many cases, a drink offering was part of these sacrifices. They all knew what it meant. It happened last. The last step in the ritual would be the pouring out of wine to God. This was the drink offering. It brought the ceremony to a close. It was the grand finale of a ritual thanking God for his grace.

You could say that the whole ritual of sacrifice was like writing a thank you card to God. That would make the drink offering the signature at the end: Love, Paul.

He did not think of his death as a tragedy; it was just the sign-off on a lifelong thank you card.

Thank you for loving me.
Thank you for saving me.
Thank you for blessing me.
Thank you for growing me.
Thank you for using me in such beautiful ways.
Thank you for healing me.
Thank you for these wonderful sisters and brothers, this family, this church, these friends.
Thank you for bringing me all the way home.

To tame him, authorities threatened to kill him.
He said, then that will be my drink offering.

To tame him, the powers of darkness said, "We'll throw you in prison."
He said, I've always wanted a prison ministry.

To tame him, the devil gave him a thorn in the flesh.
He said, "Look at this beautiful rose."

 

To tame him, the devil did everything he could to make Paul care only about himself. To turn inward, to become self-preoccupied, and self absorbed.
He said, "I'm being poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith."

 

TRANSLATION: "If you're going to kill me, on the way to that glory, climb every mountain, sail every sea, amplify every truth of grace, and defeat every obstacle, and shatter the gates of hell itself... all so I can drag as many people to heaven with me as I possibly can."

Then he looked at his friends... he smiled, and he added... Don't be so grim about this everybody. Let's party!! Our team wins! Let's go storm the gates of hell and set the captives free.

The untamable mind. And lest you think, Well, that's just some special apostolic superpower, he says... "For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me."

You can access this same joy because you have access to this same mind, and this same updraft of the Spirit.

Don't let the world, the flesh, or the devil tame your mind.

The world says: "You lost your job! Your future is ruined!"
The redeemed mind says: "My provision comes from God, it always has and always will."

The world says: "The doctor's report is scary. There is no hope."
The redeemed mind says: "This doctor doesn't have the final word on who I am and where I go; my birthright transcends anything the world can know."

The world says: "Your past is permanent and you are disqualified."
The redeemed mind shouts: "My qualification is named Jesus Christ. Your voice has no power in me!"

The flesh sighs: "Your dream is dead. You should feel sorry for yourself."
The redeemed mind declares: "Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, and where that dream died is precisely where my miracle will soon rise up."

The devil says: "You've been wounded. Build your walls and protect yourself."
The redeemed mind says: "My wounds do not define me. They make me tender in ways I can love others well."

Stop flapping in the winds of a timid, tame mind. The redeemed mind does not wrestle its way into thinking positive thoughts. The call on your life is to spread the wings of your faith, on the currents of truth, and let the updraft of God's Holy Spirit do the lifting.

It's time to quit taming the hero within.