11 Dec On Mission Warrior (3 of 12)
December 10th, 2017
THE ON MISSION WARRIOR (3 of 12)
Continuing our year-end series on “The On Mission Warrior”…check our previous posts for the first two if you missed them! 
THREE (3 of 12): I continually recognize and remember that I have not yet arrived, but I am teachable and daily anticipate the growth God is working within me.
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. 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.” (Philippians 3:13-14, ESV) – ONE OF THE THREE VERSES ON OUR OMMA LOGO.
The Apostle Paul was a pretty accomplished guy – very intelligent religious scholar and lawyer. He was a leader in the Jewish community of his day and passionate about his faith, both before and after his miraculous conversion. The Holy Spirit was pleased to use Paul to pen almost half of the New Testament and to build the church throughout the world of that day. Apostle, teacher, preacher, pastor, theologian, author and, eventually, martyr for the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow, what a résumé!
Yet, despite all of those credentials and accomplishment, Paul was astonishingly humble and had a clear picture of his unworthiness and his position before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He progressed from a proud Pharisee to a humble servant of Jesus Christ. “What turned a once proud Pharisee into a humble apostle of Christ? It was Paul’s understanding of the grace of God. He understood God’s grace to be more than undeserved favor. He saw himself not just undeserving but ill deserving. He knew that in himself, apart from Christ, he fully deserved the wrath of God. Instead, he had been made a herald of the message he once tried to destroy. That is why he followed his assessment as the least of the apostles by the statement ‘but by the grace of God I am what I am’ (1 Cor. 15:10). That is why he would say, ‘To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given’ (Eph. 3:8). He saw himself as a prime example of the grace of God, and his theology of grace produced his humility.” (http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/least-apostles/ )
In the martial arts, there’s a saying: You spend a few years working your way from White Belt to Black Belt and then decades returning from Black Belt to White Belt. The idea here is that, physically, after years of tying and untying your Black Belt it gets worn and slowly returns to White. The physical belt represents the idea that as we grow in our knowledge and understanding of the arts, we realize how little we truly know and how much more there is to know and learn and understand…we are all beginners – some of us have just been beginners longer! How much more so in our walk with Christ!
May we, like the Apostle Paul, by the grace of God, grow in humility and a teachable spirit as we experience more of the greatness and love and mercy of our incredible, Sovereign Lord!
Keep Fighting the Good Fight!
Blessings,
Marco
OMMA Founder/Senior Instructor
Yondan – 4th Degree Black Belt
Attachment: on mission warrior.pdf (116.2kB)