Technicolor JOY: Philippians 3:12-17
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
08-20-2023
Mile 9 (Part 1)
My first half marathon was in November. First mistake. At the start of the race, it was about 34 degrees. At mile two, it started to rain. Not sleet. Not snow. Cold, cold rain. My shoes filled with water, making squishing noises with each step I took.
As I ran past the elk, (did I mention that the race went through an elk preserve), I wondered out loud why I chose this race.
At mile seven, my right knee started to throb. At mile nine, my left knee started to hurt. I slowed down to a painful hobbled waddle.
I wondered if I was going to be able to finish the race. I was discouraged, waterlogged, and tempted to just go sit down and pet an elk for a while.
What happened? Stay tuned at the end of the sermon for the rest of the story.
Review
Two weeks ago, we watched as Paul engaged in some spiritual trash talk with the false teachers.
“If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”
This is Paul’s spiritual resume. It is the top of the stack, the cream of the crop, and can’t touch this resume of resumes.
He presents this to the Judaizers to show them that if anyone thinks they are good enough to get into heaven, he beats them on every count.
Yet, what Paul does next is mind-blowing - he rips up his spiritual resume!
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage..”
Paul is using the word picture of a ledger sheet that accountants would use. On one side are gains and the other column includes losses.
Paul looks at his spiritual resume, all the things he thought made him good enough for heaven and he realized that he is spiritually bankrupt! None of those things - the right birth, the right nationality, the right upbringing, the right parents, the right standard, the right passion, the right morality, gets him any closer to heaven.
In a shocking twist, he moves them all to the loss column. Notice the word gains is plural and the word loss is singular. What remains in the gains column? Only one thing - Jesus!
This is past tense. But thirty years later, he reevaluates this decision. Someone might wonder if he still thinks that decision was worth it.
He then writes nearly the same thing again, except this sentence is in the present. He doesn’t regret his conversion at all.
And yet, he looks at the things he used to be so proud of and calls it “scubula.” This word can mean garbage but it can also mean poop. He says those things are like garbage scraps that you would throw to the wild dogs, or like dog poop that you get on your shoes, or like the smell of a day-old dirty diaper.
I love the way that Eugene Peterson paraphrases these verses:
“The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.” (Phil 3:7-8, The Message)
Everything can be moved to the loss column because the only thing that is worthy of the gains column is the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ.”
“…that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
Knowing Jesus was Paul’s greatest desire. Is that your desire as well?
Martin Lloyd Jones wrote:
"I am not asking whether you know things about Him but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the centre of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy? He is meant to be."
In the verses that we will study today, Paul will anticipate a question - was he saying that he was now perfect?
Turn with me to Philippians 3. We will begin in verse 12.
Prayer.
Dissatisfaction
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal…”
After presenting his spiritual resume in which he claimed to be outwardly blameless in his spiritual life, some of the readers might have wondered if Paul was claiming to be perfect.
The Judiazers were teaching that one could become perfect through law-keeping. There was another group of false teachers that taught that there was a “second blessing” - a mystical experience in which a person would be made perfect.
This is still taught today in some Wesleyan and Nazarene churches. It’s a doctrine known as total sanctification.
I read a story about a pastor who met with a young couple who had just graduated from Bible college. At their college graduation, the president of the college said in his address, “I’m praying that you can become like me. I haven’t sinned in three years.”
This couple was confused and frustrated and admitted they couldn’t love God with all their hearts, soul, mind, and strength all day, every day. They were afraid that they might not even be real Christians.
I’m so glad that they sought out their pastor’s wisdom because he got to share with them that we will not be perfect until we are in heaven with the Perfect One.
Many years ago, a student in our youth group in Mississippi received a call from someone he didn’t know. It turned out to be the wrong number, but the man asked Ray how old he was. Ray said that he was seventeen. The man asked if he was a Christian. Ray said that he was. Then the man asked, “Do you still sin?” Ray said, “Yes sir, every day.” The man then responded, “Then you are no Christian!” Ray’s response? “Here’s my youth pastor’s number. Call him.”
This guy did call me. And we had a very frustrating conversation. I finally read John’s words:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (I John 1:8)
When he told me that I was taking verses out of context, I lost my temper and said, “You are starting to p*** me off.” He began to laugh and told me that I had just sinned proving that I wasn’t a Christian.
I told him if he ever called Ray again, I would give him a lot more proof!
When Paul writes that he had not already obtained “all this,” what did mean?
He is saying that he hadn’t arrived spiritually. He is confident that he will experience resurrection and glorification but, after walking with Christ for 30 years, he’s not there yet.
Do you feel that way? I sure do.
I took Maxine to a concert at Wrigley Field last Saturday night. When we got to our seats this was our view. I was beside myself. I wanted this to be perfect for Maxine. It was her birthday present.
I marched down to fan services to complain and ask if they could move us. The lady said, “We have to have posts to hold up our stadium.” Maxine saw the fire in my eyes and before I could give that lady a piece of my mind she said, “Okay Karen let's go.”
Do you know what happened? The people next to us never showed up and we had a perfect view of everything.
After 33 years of walking with Christ, and a desire to be kind to everyone, you would have thought that I would have handled that better.
Just like Paul, and maybe you, I’m a work in progress.
Paul had a holy dissatisfaction. He wasn’t content with where he was spiritually. After 30 years, he was just scratching the surface.
It takes humility to admit that you aren’t there yet. If you think you have already arrived, then you will stop growing.
We will never reach perfection here, but our discontent with our imperfections can drive us toward the goal. Perfection is to be pursued but it will never be attained in this life.
A growing Christian is one who becomes more and more sensitive to our sin and selfishness.
Press On
“…but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Instead of becoming complacent, Paul pressed on. This word is used 44 times in the New Testament and means to “run after, to aggressively pursue.”
It’s obvious from Paul’s writings that he was a sports fan. He writes about boxing in I Corinthians and wrestling in Ephesians. But Paul’s favorite sports metaphor is running.
In Galatians, Paul asked who had cut in on them as they were running.
In his last letter to Timothy, Paul writes,
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)
Paul sees the Christian life not as a sprint but a marathon - a long obedience in the same direction.
This is not a “let go and let God” kind of life. It’s a vigorous pursuit of Christ’s sufferings and His resurrection power.
He “takes hold because Christ Jesus took hold of me” is a better translation.
Takes hold is a very strong verb and means “to seize by laying your hands to grab hold of.”
On the Damascus Road, all those years ago, Jesus Christ “took hold of Paul.” Jesus captured his heart and Paul had never been the same.
Because Jesus reached out in love to him when he was persecuting Him, Paul's life is marked by passionately pursuing Christ. He’s not where he wants to be but he’s not who he used to be.
One Thing
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…”
Paul has done a careful self-analysis and wants them to know that he doesn’t know Christ fully yet. Again, he had not arrived.
The words “I do” are not in the Greek. He is making a strong declaration - one thing!
We’ve seen the idea of “one thing” many times in the Bible.
When Jesus challenged the rich young ruler He said,
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)
When Martha was frustrated with her sister, who was sitting at Jesus's feet, for not helping her, He told 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)
When Jesus healed a man born blind, the religious leaders accused Jesus of being a sinner, he replied,
“Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25)
Paul is singularly focused on knowing Jesus more and more. David had the same heartbeat:
“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
The writer of Hebrews encourages this kind of concentrated effort as we run the race of faith:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Heb 12:1-2)
How does he do this?
Forgetting what is behind.
Now there are some things that we need to remember as we run. We need to keep God’s promises at the front of our minds. We need to remember His faithfulness to us in times past. We need to remember the Scriptures that help us deal with the ups and downs of life.
But we can’t drive a car, for long, just looking in the rearview mirror.
One of the most amazing races of all time was the mile at the British Victory Games in Vancouver in 1954. Roger Bannister and John Landy had both recently done what many people thought was impossible - break the four-minute mile.
This race was dubbed the “Race of the Century” and the “Miracle Mile.”
Landy went out fast and led most of the way but down the stretch, he turned to look back to see where Banister was. That slowed him down just enough for Banister to overtake him and win.
Some people seem to live in the past. They are always talking about the “glory days” or like Uncle Rico how he used to be able to “throw a pigskin a half a mile.” Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom and became a pillar of salt. (See Gen 19)
There are things that can hold us back from running the race.
past sins. Paul was a violent man who hunted and persecuted Christians, having them arrested and killed. This guilt could have held him back but he knew that God had forgotten those sins.
Wait. I thought God knows everything. How can He “forget?” Forgetting means “not be influenced by.” It means that He doesn’t hold it against us.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”. (Psalm 103:12)
Before I was a Christian, I did things that later brought me great shame. This shame held me back from running with joy. But then I discovered Paul’s words that changed my heart:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Rom 8:1)
God had buried those sins in the sea of forgetfulness:
“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19)
Past Circumstances Many of us grew up in homes that were less than functional. Many of us have experienced traumatic experiences that have shaped the way we see the world.
I used to blame some of my sinful behavior on my parents, my mom in particular.
I was asked by a therapist to write out all the ways my mother had hurt me. I wrote 20 pages!
Those twenty pages were in my car and my sunroof leaked. When I came out of work, it had rained earlier, and the temp inside the car was unbearable.
I realized that the paper had gotten wet and when I unfolded it I discovered the water and the heat had bleached the paper white. The only hint of writing was on the edges of the paper.
I sat in my car and God whispered to me, “This is what I did for you. Now you get to do it for your mom. Wipe the slate clean.”
Maybe that’s what has been holding you back. You need to forgive and move on. Unforgiveness is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die.
Not only are we to forget what lies behind but also “strain toward what’s ahead.”
This is an amazing verb that had two prefixes attached to it. It means to stretch out with every fiber in your muscles.
When I did my first triathlon, it was hot! As I got off the bike and started to run, the heat just sucked all my energy out of me. I didn’t know if I could finish.
My trainer met me about half a mile from the finish line. She said, “I am a girl. You are a boy. There is something inside of you that can not tolerate being beaten by a girl. It’s there I promise. You have it in you. I’m going to take off and you are going to run faster than you ever have. You ready?”
She took off and I let out a rebel yell and took off after her. I did beat her, nearly diving over the finish line and then throwing up everywhere. At which she gave me a standing ovation!
Before we move on, let me say that growing up I never saw adults that loved Jesus this way. I never saw my parents or anyone at church or teachers or scout leaders or coaches passionately pursue their relationship with Jesus.
Shuanee Miller, a runner from the Bahamas, won gold in the 400 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics by diving over the finish line to beat the favorite by .02 of a second.
Do your children/grandchildren/friends/coworkers know that Jesus is your one thing? Your greatest treasure?
The Prize
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
But Paul presses on which means to follow hard after. It also is used to describe a hunter pursuing prey.
Some see the Christian life as a rubber tube in which you just float down the river. Others see themselves in a row boat, frantically rowing toward heaven.
But it’s really more like a sailboat, that catches the wind of the Spirit that propels us forward.
Remember that Paul had directed us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Phil 2:12-13)
Runners run toward the finish line even when they can’t see it.
One commentator described it this way:
“This is a vivid word picture, derived from the games and it pictures a runner with his eyes fixed on the goal, his hands stretching out toward it, his body bent forward as he enters the last and decisive stage of the race.”
In the Grecian games, athletes who won were awarded a salad on their heads. Not really. It was a laurel wreath and maybe an apple.
That’s their prize. But Paul is running toward a different finish line.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (I Cor 9:24-25)
What is the prize? That’s actually the wrong question. Who is the prize? The prize is Jesus! It is full and complete knowledge of our Savior.
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (I John 3:2)
Each of us that has been born again is called onward and upwards!
We can not let this world distract us from the joy that awaits us.
C. S. Lewis wrote:
“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem like our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex, and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he can not imagine what is meant to be an offer of an all-inclusive vacation to the ocean. We are far too easily pleased.”
God Will Make it Clear
“All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.”
Maturity is marked by a relentless, passionate pursuit of knowing Jesus more. Paul isn’t going to argue with the false teachers. He’s going to leave it up to God to change anyone’s mind.
If you know it…
“Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
Paul encourages them, and us, not to lose ground in our race.
This is a very convicting verse. Basically, he is saying If you understand it, you are responsible for it.
Mark Twain wrote:
“It is not the things which I do not understand in the Bible which trouble me, but the things which I do understand.”
Mile 9 (Part 2)
Look back over those two verses. Paul uses the pronoun “us.” Let us who are mature. Let us live up to.
He is not a superstar Christian that has arrived and sits above the normal Christians.
I ran a race in Peoria that had elite runners in it. After everyone was settled in their starting areas, the officials lead the elites out to thunderous applause. They were at the front and when the gun went off, they were out of sight in less than 20 seconds.
He is in the race with them. He is sweating and straining and running with them, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart. We run better together.
Back to mile nine. I had slowed down to a waddle and was debating quitting when a guy hobbled and waddled beside me.
He said, “Your knees hurting?” I grunted yes. He said, “Mine too. Let’s run together.”
For the last two miles, we talked about our families and jobs and favorite team, anything to keep our minds from concentrating on our pain.
As the finish came into sight, we both broke out into a jog and finished together. We high-fived and I thanked him for being my mile 9 buddy.
This race is long and we need each other. Some of you are trying to run alone. Join us. We don’t run perfectly straight sometimes, some of us waddle, and there are times that we may even fall down. But God doesn’t send a golf cart to take us back to the beginning. We get up and keep on running.
Video: Run the Race (YouTube)
Ending Song : Knowing You
