“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”
We ended the last lesson noting that in the things Paul has said in verses 8 through 11 there is a ‘now’ element and a ‘later’. In the economy of God we are a finished work and our everlasting standing is now complete and completely acceptable to Him as a result of the atoning work of Christ and His having ushered us by faith into this grace in which we stand.
Then we talked about the ‘later’, which is really not just something we wait for, although it is that, but it is a process that is ongoing as the Spirit continues to sanctify us with the purpose of conforming us to the image of Christ.
Today we’re going to look at verses 12-16 and focus more sharply on the ‘later’ element of what Paul is teaching; the process of progressive sanctification and our need to stay focused in our spiritual walk and growth.
NOT PERFECT BUT PRESSING ON
Scripture perfectly balances itself. For every point of doctrine that makes a definite statement on one side of an issue there is another that balances it. The reason men go on and on in their raging debates over their favorite points of Bible doctrine is almost always because they want to stress one extreme or the other, seemingly never realizing, or not wanting to agree, that the answer is in the middle.
So you have one camp saying salvation is by faith alone, and another arguing that it is by works, when the answer is that faith alone saves, but saving faith is not alone because its fruit will be good works. Isn’t that simple?
Then we come to a portion of Scripture like the third chapter of Philippians, and I teach from it that the work of the cross is finished, that at the moment we respond to the call of God in faith and are regenerated we are from that moment perfectly acceptable to God and in fact He declares us to be glorified in His sight, therefore our security is fixed and eternal. I teach that when Jesus died on the cross He paid the penalty for every sin you will ever commit; even the very last one you will ever commit if you live to be 500 years old; that it is done and Jesus paid it all.
So someone says, ‘Well that’s teaching cheap grace. That teaches that we can just do whatever we want because it’s already paid for and that gives license to sin’.
And I respond, ‘No, if you think that, then you have not understood God’s grace at all, because it is the knowledge of the above that made Paul very zealous indeed to walk in holiness and cooperate with God in the ongoing sanctifying process, which is the other side of that doctrinal coin, which is the balance, which is what he is now going to go on and provide for us.
When Paul writes, “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect”, he is simply saying ‘I’m not the finished product’. There is a work going on in me that is not completed yet.
I’m not certain this is the best illustration, but if you have most of a Volkswagen put together and every part that hasn’t been applied yet is laying around, you might say, “That’s a Volkswagen”, and you would be correct. But you wouldn’t say it is a finished Volkswagen. On the other hand, you would be going on the assumption that since the major work has been done and the rest of the parts are available, that work is going to continue until everything is finally in place and the vehicle can be driven away.
This is the state of things Paul had in mind when He said in the beginning of this letter:
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
What we’re really talking about here, is the divine side of salvation and the human side; again, the two balancing factors. What God has completed on the spiritual side, He will continue to complete on the human side, and that is the side that requires our cooperation, and if we pay attention to Paul’s wording here, it requires diligent cooperation.
“I press on”, he says. This is an aggressive term. It is energetic. He practices the counsel he gave to the Corinthian church (1 Cor 9:24). “ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.”
Do you see what I’m saying? The person who is not absolutely certain of the permanence and surety of his eternal acceptance with God is not going to be diligent in his walk and service for the right reason. Ultimately, his motivation is going to be that he is trying to be right with God in the flesh; in his own strength to do things.
That was Paul’s condition before his Damascus road experience, and it is the condition of the orthodox Jew today who thinks salvation is by the works of the Law, and it is the condition of every Christian who does not understand the eternal security of the believer in Christ.
On the other side of this coin of error we find people who believe that once we are saved we are made perfect and we no longer sin. They believe the sin nature died; that the ‘flesh’ is conquered, and we’re just waiting for glorification.
So in one case we have people doing good works for the wrong reason, and in the other we have people slothful in service because, after all, if you’ve arrived at perfection and there’s no longer any obligation on your part to continue, the race is really over, isn’t it? There is a tendency to rest on one’s laurels, and as one scholar has put it, if you’re resting on your laurels you’re wearing them in the wrong place.
Hear C.H. MacKintosh on this:
“Is the reader a true believer? If so, has he found any improvement in his old nature? Is it a single whit better now than it was when he first started on his Christian course? He may, and should through grace, be able to subdue it more thoroughly; but it is nothing better.
If it be not mortified, it is just as ready to spring up and show itself in all its vileness as ever. "The flesh" in a believer is in no wise better than "the flesh" in an unbeliever. And if the Christian does not bear in mind that self must be judged, he will soon learn by bitter experience that his old nature is as bad as ever; and, moreover, that it will be the very same to the end.” - MacKintosh
No, Paul says that he presses on and confesses the need to press on because he is still a work in progress, but we must see that his great motivation to be identified with his Savior in His suffering and death was his absolute assurance that all that was needed to make him acceptable to God had been completed in resurrection power.
LAYING HOLD
Now why does he press on and what is he working toward, or for what purpose is he being diligent to partner with God in the process of his further sanctification?
He says, ‘…in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus’
Paul saw himself as having been apprehended by Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul, still going in his Hebrew name, Saul, was enroute to that city with orders from the Chief Priests in Jerusalem to arrest followers of the Way and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. He was headed off at the pass, as it were, and instead of being the pursuer he became the pursued. Instead of the predator he became the prey. Instead of being the capturer he became the captured, when Jesus instantly rendered him helpless, revealed Himself to Saul, and enlisted him into service.
Isn’t it interesting – have you ever thought of this – that in that account we read in Acts 9 and told again by Paul in Acts 22, Jesus gets control of Saul and has him led into the city with instructions to wait there until he receives his marching orders?
I think the Holy Spirit deliberately had Luke leave out any specific mention of a confession of faith from Saul in the telling of this; not because that didn’t happen, but because the absence of it from the narrative demonstrates that for each of us God has His plan and purpose and in His timing He recruits us.
Did there have to be some kind of response on Saul’s part? Yes. There ultimately had to be a faith response in that he had to come to a realization that this Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified was indeed risen from the dead, had confronted him on the road, was therefore the very Messiah of God he had waited and watched for all of his life, and his theology was completely turned around.
But Paul had no misconceptions about what had transpired there. He had been arrested. He had been apprehended. He had been grasped. He had been laid hold of, and laid hold of for a purpose.
That purpose is reiterated for us in Romans 8:29 and it applies to every born again believer in Christ from the beginning until the end.
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
If our salvation is a completed work in God’s economy because it is based on the perfect and finished work of Calvary’s cross and the resurrection of His Son from death, then the only thing left for the believer to do is to give himself devotedly and entirely to cooperating with his Lord in the race to finish the conformation that began with his spiritual birth.
Do you wonder if I have properly applied this assertion of Paul’s and that he really is referencing his ongoing sanctification and not some earthly task?
The confirmation is given us in verse 14.
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
But let’s not move too fast through this. Look at verses 13 and 14 together and let’s refresh our perspective.
“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Two things came to mind as I read these words; one a humorous memory of a favorite television show and one from my own past.
On the show Magnum P.I. with Tom Selleck there was a recurring gag where he would be being chased by ferocious guard dogs in some facility where he was sneaking around in the investigation of some crime. He would be desperately trying to pick a lock on a door as he heard the dogs coming up behind him, and he would be repeating to himself, ‘Don’t look back. Don’t look back’. And of course, he would look back and see the dogs drawing closer, and he would go back to picking the lock and say ‘Oh, you looked back’. Of course, he would always get the door open and duck inside just in time to shut out the snarling K9s. But the point was that by looking back he was both focusing on the problem instead of the solution, and slowing his progress.
The other memory, which will be shared by anyone who was ever in a sport that involved racing or being pursued for some reason, as in carrying a football, which is of the coach yelling, ‘Don’t look back!’ If you’re in a race and you look back to see how close the person is behind you two things happen. You slow yourself down, and you take a risk of tripping, which would, of course, ruin the run or drop you out of the race.
Paul doesn’t want his readers to look back, either longing for the things they valued in their old life, or to evaluate their progress. When you do that you never really get an accurate picture anyway. You’re backtrail will always look distorted.
Again, Paul says here what he has already assured them of in verse 12. While his salvation is secured in Christ and anchored in Heaven, Christ has taken hold of him to begin and continue the work of conforming Paul to his image, and Paul is determined to cast off the past and any other hindrance and reach toward the goal Christ has for him.
Now believer, you must see that Paul isn’t just talking about himself here. This was not some elite relationship between Paul and the risen Jesus and he is now sort of giving them his autobiography so they will all understand how special he must be.
Philippians 3:8-11 is the picture of every true Christian, and Philippians 3:12-14 is the call of every true Christian. And Paul uses the Olympic races as an illustration of the diligence and tenacity with which the believer should reach for his ultimate goal, but be assured that the analogy is not perfect. In reality there is a prize for every true believer at the end and it is the same glorious prize for each.
Paul was true to his determination and as he put on an extra burst of energy at the end of his own race he declared to Timothy:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 2 Tim 4:7-8
Two things there; notice he still says ‘in the future’. Even at the end he knew he had not attained that upward call of God in Christ Jesus until he crossed the threshold into Heaven. Secondly, notice that here he clarifies that this same glorious victor’s crown will be awarded on that day to all who have loved Him; all who have run the race.
THEN THERE’S PERFECT
Paul said in verse 12 that he hadn’t attained to perfection, in other words, he was a work in progress – hadn’t reached completion.
Moving on to verse 15 we read, “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect”. He uses a slightly different word from verse 12 and it means ‘mature’. He is talking of spiritual maturity.
There is some irony in this and I don’t think there is sarcasm but Paul is still making an effective point for the discerning reader.
In the previous verses he has more or less confessed to a lack of spiritual maturity in himself. Not that he is immature, but that he has a long way to go and he knows it.
Now there’s a couple of ways to receive this. One is that if with all we see in Paul we also see him expressing a lack of satisfaction with his spiritual development up to this point, that could throw us into a tailspin, couldn’t it? My, goodness! If Paul at this stage of his life is not satisfied with his spiritual maturity where does that leave the rest of us?
The other way to receive it is this. Paul is simply telling us not to get settled. He is warning against being contented and sitting down.
The Christian can never stand still in his walk with Christ; in his spiritual growth. He is either moving forward in obedience with His Lord or he is falling back, but he can never find a status quo to rest in.
You know that if you have ever gone through a time of devoted and regular Bible study and then relaxed your guard and neglected to open your scriptures for a while. If you have ever done that you know the sensation of weakness; of loss that come from neglect of the Word and time alone with the Lord.
We’ve all known people who were active in the church and there every time the doors were open, and they seemed to be growing and enjoying a robust and happy relationship with God. Then over time worldly concerns or temptations drew them slowly away. Their attendance dropped, they began to be undependable and finally they just weren’t around any more. Then one day you saw them and they were miserable. Their life was a shambles and they were so caught up in the concerns of life they had no time for you or the church any more.
The Christian cannot stand still, and the Lord will not allow the true believer to rest on his laurels. And I would be remiss in my duties as a preacher if I did not ask you to take stock of yourself.
Are you wearing your laurels in the wrong place? Can you honestly say that you are diligently seeking to lay hold of that for which you were laid hold of? Are you daily pursuing the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, seeking to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of conforming you to the image of God’s Son?
If you cannot make that claim with Paul, and you feel like your life is a constant field of hurdles and land mines instead of a racing track, it might be time for you to remind yourself of Philippians 3:8-11 and rededicate yourself to the realities of Philippians 3:12-14.
And that is what Paul is exhorting them to in verses 15-16. He has readily admitted that he is not a completed work and spiritual maturity remains the goal he keeps his eye on at the end of the run, but then he says to them that if they consider themselves to be spiritually mature they should adopt the attitude that he has, which he has just reiterated to them.
Forget what lies behind. Don’t look back. Press on. Press on toward the goal that Christ has set for you, that He is bringing you to… conformity to His image. And you know, that will not be completed until that day when you see Him as He is.
Someone recently told me that a question he asks of himself frequently is, ‘How do I do this pressing on? What is it I’m supposed to be doing to fulfill my part of the role in my sanctification?’
Well the answer is given here. It’s about attitude. It is about the mind. Paul frequently reminded his readers to keep certain things in the forefront of their thinking and to guard their attitudes against slothfulness and the creeping in of error.
See? He says, ‘have this attitude;’ which we just talked about then he promises ‘if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you’.
So there is your answer and your comfort. God wants you to win. He wants you to reach your prize; your goal. It is the goal He has set for you. It is the prize He has waiting for you. It is the thing for which He has grasped you, laid hold of you, and He will not let you be long deterred from it.
All you need to do is listen for Him when He says turn left or right, or when He simply calls out, ‘Press on! Don’t look back!’
He is on your side, He is at your side, He already sees the finished work and no one knows better than He what you will finally be when perfection is completed. But you are still in this world for reasons that are His own, and until you cross the Heavenly threshold you can not stop reaching.
THE STANDARD
Now I want to just make one thing clear in closing. In verse 16 Paul refers to a standard. Most translations use the word ‘rule’ there; not in the sense of a law or an order, but ‘rule’ in the sense of a ruler – a straight line. For the sake of brevity I want to take a step for a moment out of our text verses and go to Galatians 6:14-16.
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”
I take you there at the end for this reason. In Galatians 6 Paul is addressing the same error that he is in Philippians 3, namely the error of the Judaizers.
And he establishes very clearly here in Galatians 6, the simplicity of the standard he is talking about in Philippians 3. It is that the works of the flesh mean nothing, that what establishes us in a life of peace with Him is His crucifixion and our conformity to His death and our now living in the power of His resurrection as a new creation.
That is the rule, that is the standard upon which our foundation rests, and it is from that sure foundation that we launch upward, pressing toward the call of God to be made just…like…Jesus!
Stay in the Word. Keep your hand in His hand. Put no confidence in the flesh, forget your backtrail, press on. Press on! The prize is just ahead.
