Phil 3:7-16   Pressing Toward the Mark

 

Intro: QUESTION: What is the Top Goal of your life? What is your Primary focus at this point at this stage in your life.

A)College – Getting that Degree / Career – Moving up the Ladder / Young Couple – Buying a House / Dating – Getting married

 

B) All of us have goals and that is good – Goals are those things that help us keep focused – Have direction in our lives / avoid being complacent

1)   Goals are what keep us moving Forward & pressing on in life

 

C) Our goals will be seen by what we spend our time doing: Couple buying a house / penny pinching {Working extra hours

1)     College student who is trying to get that Degree { Long hrs in the Library{ Sacrificing Social time w/ Friends

 

D) The Person who is wanting to climb the Job Ladder might put in extra time and take on extra Projects to make an impression

1)    Couple dating{ praying about marriage will be spending time together learning to communicate / learning to build each other up in the Lord

 

E) The Point being : Your goals are going to be seen by Your Pursuits – where you are spending your time / energy & your Resources

 

It is good to have Goals – but there is one GOAL that every Christian needs to have that Supercedes all others

A)It is the goal that Paul talks about here in Phil 3 - It is the Goal of becoming more Like Christ – That is to be the Priority of the Believer

 

B)Everything else is secondary to achieving that One GOAL.

1)   In fact everything else in our lives needs to be seen as God’s platform / God’s training Ground for accomplishing this One goal

 

C) And each new Job / new avenue / new Relationship is a Setting in which God will be working to Stretch is mold us / Fashion us into His sons image

That is the goal of the Believer: That is to be Primary in his heart & mind – because that is God’s heart : Rom.8:29

A)Paul expresses in this passage that becoming like Christ is his chief desire : Notice his thoughts

 

B) V.8 Gain Christ / v.9 Be found in Christ / v.10 Know Him / v.10 Conformed to his death/ v.12 Lay hold of Him /

1)   V.13 This one thing I do/ v.14 The Prize of the Upward call –

 

C) Paul’s life & Passion was about Knowing Christ / Serving Christ & becoming more Like Christ:

1)   In this passage Paul reveals 3 things that are involved in following after that Goal !!!

 

D) Emptying / Longing / Pressing

 

1st Emptying : Now we noted in our last study that Paul had quite a resume when it came to his Religious Background v. 4-6

A)In this resume Paul list the things that if he were going to try to have confidence in his flesh before the Lord – this would be a reason

 

B) But Paul says the things that before I thought were gains – counted as losses for Christ !!!

 1) Counted – Past / Count – Present Continuing  - / Suffered – He was an Outcast  { Forsaken & Hated by the Jewish Religious  Community

 

C) In fact Paul says in v. 8 that He counted those things as Rubbish – literally Dung or Manure { Not only worthless but Offensive

 1) Why was Paul’s religious Pedigree something that was so offensive to him now ? Kept him from Christ

 

D) It told him that he could be saved on the basis of his own goodness / his own Righteousness – But Paul Knew it wasn’t true

1) He came to the conclusion that he could never be good enough – That his sin had to be dealt w/ if God was Just

So Paul came to the conclusion that everything that spoke of Paul /anything that he would be tempted to put his confidence in {GONE

A)That he v.9 might Be found In Him not having my own righteousness which is from Keeping the Law but that Which is thru faith in Jesus Christ

 

B) Paul is saying for yrs I was found in myself – in the eyes of others to be a righteous & religious man{ But Paul Knew Better – His righteousness filthy

1)   Now Paul said I want to be found IN HIM

 

C) This is one of Paul’s favorite Phrases In Him / In Christ – mentioned 75 times in Paul’s Epistles { Key to Christian life{Abundant benefits

 1) IMPUTED RIGHTEOUS –

 

D) Spiritual Blessings

1)   Strength & Power

2)   Supernatural Wisdom & Insight

 

So Paul said I want to be found in Him { All of us here tonight are going to be found in Something { Found in own Righteousness

A)Found in your Career { This is who I am – no that is what you do /  Found in a Relationship { The wife of So & So or the Husband /  boyfriend or girl f

 

B) For yrs Paul was found in this religious identity – he was a well-respected Pharisee – Now Paul says I want to be found in Christ

 1) So first of all if Paul was going to follow after that Goal there had to be an Emptying

 

2ndly There was also a Longing:

v.10 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

A)Know = Ginosko – Intimately & By experience :

Chambers The Root of Faith is the Knowledge of the Person  Faith never knows where it is being led but it knows & loves the one who is leading !!!

B) Paul mentions Knowing Him in 3 Areas 

  1) 1st Power of His Resurrection – Yes I want to Know Jesus in that way / I want that Power in my life

 

C) 2nd But also the Fellowship of His suffering – What? Don’t talk to me about suffering

1)   The deepest moments of Spiritual fellowship w/ Jesus are often moments of Suffering { Know Him in a way wouldn’t otherwise

 

How partake of the Fellowship of His suffering ?

A)Rejection- He was rejected / Betrayal – He was / Sickness – He aches over the suffering people go thru / Obviously Persecution

 

B) 3rd Being conformed to His death – Christian Life is a Paradox – Dying = gaining / Losing is winning

1) Death to self / losing my life – allows me to experience the Resurrection life that Jesus has for me

 

C) Jn. 12 – Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground …….

1)   It was thru His death that Jesus accomplished the Plan of Salvation for man

 

D)When I am conformed to his death – I realize that for the plan of God to be accomplished in my life – Rob needs to die

1)   Rob needs to be buried – that I might attain to the Resurrection life that is found in following after Jesus 

 

E) But if I try to hang on to my life / my rights / I lose what the Lord has for me in Jesus

 

Gal. 2: 20I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

 

 

So Paul in following after his goal there was an emptying / Longing & 3rdly a Pursuing  12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

 

A)Pressing on speaks of energy action & a  Continual Pursuit – it is continual because we never will attain the mark this side of heaven

 

B) Never attain – { Christ is always working  - Have Victory there is always another area that needs work

Pursuing the prize of Spiritual maturity begins w/ a dissatisfaction w/ ones spiritual Condition

 

C) I find it comforting that even a man like Paul could say – I haven’t arrived yet – I haven’t reached the goal  

1) I have heard many  Christian leaders cultivate an attitude that they have already attained!{ Secrets to success books

 

D) Paul said I haven’t attained but I am pressing on !!! Think of it this way:

When a little child is born it is a complete human being : Everything is there

  1) but still is far from perfect in all his development as man,

 

E) So too the true child of God is also perfect in all parts, although not yet perfect in all the stages of his development in faith.”

1)    Given all things that pertain to life & godliness – but he needs to use what he has been given to mature & develop in the faith

 

When Spain led the world (in the 15th century), their coins reflected their national arrogance and were inscribed Ne Plus Ultra which meant “Nothing Further” - meaning that Spain was the ultimate in all the world.  After the discovery of the New World, they realized that they were not the “end of the world” - they changed the inscription on their coinage to Plus Ultra - meaning “More Beyond.” 

Which motto better expresses your Christian life - “Nothing Further” or “More Beyond”?

 Paul said to that end I am Pressing on There is no turning back for me .– so I can lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me

A)Now this is an interesting Phrase - to lay hold of – to obtain or Seize that which Christ has laid hold of me – General & a Specific –

 

 B) General is to be like Christ/Specific God’s plan for your life for this season

 

C) Now Paul mentions 2 things v.13 that are involved in affectively Pursuing or pressing on: Forgetting & reaching  Read v.13 –14

 

Forgetting what lies behind{Don’t run looking back 

A)Victories – can’t live on yesterdays success { Learn from it but don’t rely on it{ Doesn’t matter what did 10 yrs / 2 months ago – matters is now

 

B) Forgetting Failures : Forgiven & forgotten – You forget – don’t dwell on the past – Satan uses to Cripple

1)   Forgetting past Sins of others against me { Excuse for wrong behavior or to allow myself to be in bondage to something

 

C) Listen Christ has set you free – that is Fact – that past thing doesn’t need to have any bearing on your life { accept as warning{Vulnerable place

 

There are people in this Church who have every reason to be a mess by the World’s Standards –

A)Because they come from Highly dysfunctional background – but they are not a Mess /

 

B) In fact if you looked at their life – how Free they are in Jesus / How they are being used by Him – think – background was leave it to Beaver

1)   Why ? They aren’t dwelling on the Past – they have learned from it

 

C) In fact their past becomes a testimony of what God can do to heal restore bless a person who is seeking after him w/ all their heart

1)   So Paul says I am pressing forward – forgetting the past { Negative

Positive: Reaching forward to what lies ahead: God has so much for us that is ahead{ Sad some miss it because – locked into the Past

A)Reaching forward – describes stretching a muscle to it’s limit – it is the picture of the runner straining every muscle to reach the finish line

 

B) Now I ask you is that a picture of your Christian life – Is that a picture of your desire to be more like Christ –

1)    Reaching out – w/ everything I have to be more like Christ – to get closer to the Lord { I was so convicted { I can be so Lazy

 

C) The ultimate upward call is heaven – Prize – where we will be like Jesus { but in the mean time I am pressing toward that goal

 

15Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, (Already experienced growth & progress – keep following that pattern ) let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. ( Same mind as at the Start )

 

D) It is interesting to me how we can abandon the things that were such a part of our initial walks w/ the Lord

1)   Fellowship – coming to Bible Study { being in the word / Prayer

 

E) We live in the day where people are looking for quick fix or new formula that reduces their spiritual walk to seeking answer to a Problem

1)   Rather than seeking to Know the Lord

 

Needs based Christianity – I go here to get my emotional needs met / I go here to get my social needs met / this meeting help me overcome addiction { very little emphasis on Getting to know Jesus

A)That is the Goal – Knowing Jesus / becoming more like Jesus

 

B)Paul said they that run in a race, run all, but only one receives the prize.  So I am running to Win / I am running to obtain the Prize

1)Don’t just be content to be in the Race Jogging casually – Win v.17-19

There are many who are enemies of the cross of Christ.

A)They preach a gospel of personal gain and riches, not a gospel of sacrifice, not a gospel of commitment.  And they, themselves, live by these rules.

 

B) In other words, they brag in the fact that they drive Fancy Cars. Rolls Royce Faith or VW Faith . 

1) They brag in the fact that they have their own private jets, that they jet around the world in. & yet they call themselves servants of Jesus Christ.

 

C) They preach a doctrine of personal gain, of how you can learn to write your own ticket, in a sense. 

  1) Fill out the check yourself, according to your faith. 

 

And Paul said, I’m warning you again, even weeping, because there are those who aren’t really walking a life of commitment.  

A)They haven’t really denied themselves.  They haven’t really taken up the cross. 

 

B) They are actually enemies of the cross because the cross speaks of sacrifice. 

1)   Paul says, 19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, (Their belly is actually their God.) Living to please themselves

 

C) How can a man go into Africa starving conditions – say Be different if they had faith – if they gave

 

and whose glory is in their shame, (Things that they should be ashamed of, they are glorying in, because) who mind earthly things.)  Their hearts are in the earthly treasures, in the earthly possessions. 

 

Why shouldn’t our focus be on earthly things ? Because our Citizenship is in Heaven 

A)This world is not our home we are just passing thru { Read v.18-21

 

B)We need to appreciate all this would mean to the Philippians, who valued their Roman citizenship so greatly. 

1)   even though they were in fact far from Rome, So too We Value our Heavenly Citizenship even though we are far from Heaven

 

C) One paraphrase of citizenship is in heaven reads like this: “We have our home in heaven, and here on earth we are a colony of heaven’s citizens.”

 

Paul is saying: “Just as the Roman colonists never forgot that they belong to Rome, you must never forget that you are citizens of heaven; and your conduct must match your citizenship.” (Barclay)

 

D) SO We are living in this place longing for the THAT PLACE why?

1)     The Transformation that we are pursuing will be complete / these bodies our flesh will be done away w/

 

E) So we eagerly wait – Anticipation – Expectation –