Running the Race
Philippians chapter 3:12-3:21
Introduction-
As we continue to look at the series “living for Christ”, this morning we look at finishing strong.
In the beginning of chapter 3 of Philippians
We saw that the confidence that Apostle Paul had was once in what he achieved and because of his heritage of being a Jew. It changed on that Damascus Road experience to having confidence in Christ alone.
He based everything on his relationship with Christ and the value of being secure in Christ. Once it was all about him and then it became all about Jesus.
What should happen as we mature in Christ is that our self-centered actions should vanish and we begin being Christ-centered.
Last part of this chapter Apostle Paul compares our Christian life with running a race.
Our series as we work through Philippians has brought us again to a very familiar verse.
This verse reminds me of the tortoise and the hare.
I picture the rabbit running full speed, even at times running backwards making fun of the slow start of the tortoise.
I picture the rabbit being sloppy in the way that that he runs, careless and not watching where he is going. I picture him starting strong and not even finishing.
Philippians 3:12-3:21
I have watched some people jog, there is a lot of styles isn’t there? My legs won’t let me pound the pavement anymore so what I say is not making a joke but proofing a point.
I watch some that have the grace of a gazelle, they are smooth and they look like they could run effortless forever.
There is a man that runs by my house everyday and I watch him run and I hurt. Every movement says pain. He looks like he is gasping for last breath and limps like his knee caps will break off at the joint.
The chiseled one may need water, but the last one needs oxygen and a hospital bed.
What’s the difference between the two?
Conditioning? Yes.
Age? Yes.
Past hurts of the body? Yes.
We are all in a race.
Some look good and some struggle every step.
The apostle just finishes saying that what was once a profit for him is now loss for the sake of Christ.
That knowing Christ and being found in Christ was priority one!
Our text (12) “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
I don’t know about you but that is a comfort to me. That is encouraging to me. Amen. Paul is in a race that he will not finish strong without the help of Jesus Christ his savior.
Paul’s goal was to do Christ will. It was to have the same goal as Christ. He knew that Christ had to supply the resources and the strength to make that happen so he could finish strong.
I do not consider myself there yet, but he is giving it 100% to get there.
He says this is the one thing I do!
I. Forgetting what is behind!
Any good runner knows that turning around and looking back causes us to stumble. The more you look back, the farther you fall behind and the more chance another runner will pass you by.
He is not telling us to loss our memory of all the painful things in our past. God can forgive and forget, but we have a hard time with that. What he is saying is letting the past be in the past. What is behind is done and settled. Amen. It is under the blood of Christ.
You have confessed it to the Lord, He has forgiven you and you are to move on!
The phrase forgive and forget is not in the Bible, God forgives those with a repentant heart and we are to forgive others so we can move on in our lives.
Forgiving does not mean forgetting- your brain did not fall out of your head.
Forgiving does not send the message that what someone did was okay.
God has us forgive so that we can move forward, not based upon the guilty party, but on us moving forward and not allowing the wrong of others to bring us down.
Holding un-forgiveness or resentment for someone, you become bound to that person by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. That is why it is a God thing! Forgiveness is the only way to break that link that holds you.
Why does Paul tell us to forget what is behind?
You cannot run a good race looking back, and you won’t finish strong.
Robert Quillen
“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”
Louis Smedes
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you “
Every aspect of our lives, we need to stop looking back
Those things we cannot change. Move Forward.
Those things we know about and have given to God with a repentant heart.
Those people we have wronged, and did what we could to say were sorry.
Those who have died and we cannot repent. We have asked God for forgiveness. There is nothing else you can do! Stop beating yourself!
Allowing god to forgive you is a powerful choice. You ask for forgiveness and God is willing to forgive. It allows you well being and a drawing close of your relationship between you and Christ.
Forgiveness is not justice. It is just not being bound by someone or something any longer. It is your choice weather you will move on or not.
Nothing will hold you back like the past- if you let it!
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”
II. Straining forward toward what is ahead
What is Paul telling us to do?
Forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead!
He cautions against false teachers, and renounces his former privileges as a Pharisee, he desires to be found in Christ and now talks about pressing forward and stretching toward the goal and the ultimate prize.
Straining forward, pressing forward, and stretching ourselves, not looking backwards, but forward!
Muscles are stretched to build flexibility and relieve tension. (repeat)
Goals will stretch your faith the same that stretching your muscles.
Rick Warren
“If you don’t set a goal, you already set it and the goal is the stay the same.”
If you are not stretching and pressing forward, you will by default be looking and going backwards.
If you are not accelerating on a hill, you are going backwards.
No one can stand still on a hill.
So how do we press on? Move Forward?
By prayer
Reading God’s Word
Living this life as best we know how.
Recap
1. Don’t look backwards (Say that)
2. Move Forward (say that)
III. Maturity
(15)
“All of us 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 only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
Those that are not looking back, and striving forward, we should see spiritual growth and stability (repeat)
Mature Christians cannot be complacent.
They should think differently than the world thinks and acts.
There should be a difference, and it should be noticeable!
Christian maturity is not perfection! There is no such thing on this side of heaven. Our only perfection is in Jesus Christ and maturity should be the goal of every believer.
II Peter 3:18-
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
(16) “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
Live what you know to be right- obedience starts with what we know should be done.
Put into practice the truth of God you already comprehend.
We ought to be modeling Christ and we should be worth following because they should see Jesus.
Illustration-(SermonCentral)
Baseball great Mickey Mantle battled alcohol addiction most of his life. He also had a fear of dying of cancer because many of his family had it. His great stats and popularity could not stop him from standing up in the summer of 1995 at a press conference and said “don’t be like me” I have not been a role model. Convinced of a early funeral , he joked to party hard and playing hard. Finding out that alcohol destroyed his liver, he got a transplant that he thought bought him more time. The great Mickey Mantle called his friend 2nd basemen Bobby Richardson to pray with him. Two weeks later, Bobby Richardson was called by Mantles family that the cancer had spread and he should come say his good byes. Bobby took his hand and said Mickey, I love you and I want you to spend eternity with me. Bobby said Mantle “I’ve wanted to tell you that I have trusted Jesus Christ as savior.
At his funeral, Bobby Richardson told 2000 mourners that there are two groups of people. Those who say yes to Jesus and those who say no. maybe is a no answer.
We never know who is watching our lives and who we are impacting.
Closing
(20)
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body.”
Think differently
Don’t look Back
Move Forward
Keep your eyes on the prize
Believers, as God’s children, we have privileges that are out of this world!
Remember the movie Forrest Gump?
Forrest- “I had run 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, 16 hours.
Young man- “Quiet, he’s gonna say something!”
Forrest- “I’m pretty tired, I think I’ll go home now”
We don’t just run for the sake of running- we have purpose and we have a place we are running too and we have a God that is reaching out to us and will help us finish the race we have started.
Amen.
