We are progressing in a study of Philippians; our text today is in chapter 3. In this chapter we are given a revelation of what life is all about. Sadly, most people never discover the true purpose of their lives. In fact, most Christians never grasp it. They often pursue the same goals that the world pursues.i Pleasure, power, and possessions head up the list of worldly goals that can capture a person’s attention. When that happens, they are sidetracked and fail to fulfill God’s design for their lives. The honest epitaph of the life is: what might have been.ii
In chapter 2 Paul used Jesus’s life as an example of how life is to be lived. Here in chapter 3 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he offers himself as an example. He shares this so the Philippian Christians can get the right mindset about their own lives.iii God offers this in Scripture so that you and I can understand His purpose for our lives and reach the goal He has for each of us.
As we read today’s text, ask yourself two simple questions: (1) What am I living for? and (2) How am I pursuing that purpose? I am reading Philippians 3:12-14 from the New International Version.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 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, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”iv
Notice I. Paul understood that God had laid hold of his life for a PURPOSE.
God had something amazing in mind when He saved Paul. It was more than an escape from hell. It was more than a ticket to heaven wonderful as that is. God also has an amazing purpose in mind for you. That’s what we want to talk about this morning.
We know from Scripture that God is the initiator of all this. The object Paul is pursuing in life is according to verse 12 is: “that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” In order to live the kind of life Paul lived, we must know what “that” is for our own lives. What is “that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you?
On the road to Damascus the risen Christ took hold of Paul’s life (Acts 9). Jesus captured Paul’s heart and turned his life around. On that day Paul became a part of the family of God. On that day Paul became a new creature in Christ—old things passed away; all things became new.v From that day forward Paul considered himself a servant of Jesus Christ.vi
God initiated this change in Paul. Paul did not find the Lord, although in his own way he was groping around in the dark looking for Him.vii If you know the Lord, it is because He set His love on you while you were still a sinner. Even before the foundation of the world, He saw you and loved you and planned your salvation.viii From our limited perspective we may say, “I found the Lord.” But you would have never found Him if He had not first found you and revealed Himself to you. “Salvation is of the Lord.”ix Your salvation was in the heart of God long before you were born. He initiated the whole thing.
And because it is His idea, we must embrace HIS purpose for us. It not our prerogative to invent the purpose. We do not have enough information or wisdom to do that. His purpose for you is created out of infinite love and wisdom. There could be no better purpose than the one God has designed for you.
On the one hand, it is consistent with His purpose for other believers as well. On the other hand, it is uniquely designed with you in mind. As humans we all look a lot alike. We all have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth on our face. We all have two arms, two legs, and ten toes. On the other hand, your DNA is distinct. Your fingerprints are unique. God’s plan for you fits into His plan for the Body of Christ. But you have a special place in that Body. You are uniquely equipped to fulfill a particular function. To understand God’s purpose for you, you must see the uniqueness of it and the way it fits with the Body as a whole.x Most importantly, you must not try to create your purpose. You discover your purpose by walking with God and letting Him lead you into it.
Discovering “that for which Christ Jesus took hold of” you is an exciting life adventure. Some of that discovery comes the moment you meet Christ, for you see “in Him” something of what God has in mind for you. God’s purpose for you is plainly revealed in Romans 8:29: “to be conformed to the likeness [image] of his Son.” God wants to make you like Jesus!xi Could anything be better? God orders every event in your life toward that end.xii The “good” that Scripture talks about in Romans 8:28 is that you would be like Jesus. Let me read Romans 8:28 & 29 together and you will see what I mean. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” So, what is “that for which Christ Jesus took hold of” you? It is first and foremost that you would be “conformed to the image of His Son.” God’s purpose for you is that you would become more and more like Jesus.
The change occurs in the context of our relationship with Christ. Last week we studied the verses immediately prior to today’s text. There we learned that Paul’s goal in life revolved around “knowing Christ.” His goal in life was centered on an ever-deepening relationship with the Lord. To refresh our memory on that, let’s read Philippians 3:7-11. “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [experiential, relational knowing], for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 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. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
This deepening relationship with Christ flows out of two kinds of experiences with Him: (1) “the power of his resurrection and” (2) “participation in his sufferings.” That leads to “becoming like him [1] in his death, and” in His resurrection.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul describes how transformation happens through our relationship with Christ. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (NKJV). The more you look into the face of Jesus, the more you love Him—the more you experience His love toward you and the more that interaction sparks love in your own heart toward Him. “We love him because He first loved us.”xiii
This is the key to New Testament sanctification! We cannot be transformed into the image of Christ by simply trying to be good.xiv There is a side of saying “no” to temptation, but the power to do that comes out of relational interaction with the Lord. That’s why prayer and worship are so important. As we behold his glory, we a motivated and empowered to behave more and more like Him, from one level of glory to the next.xv That’s why “knowing Christ” is essential to being transformed into His image or likeness.
II. Paul understood that he had NOT ATTAINED fully to that goal.
A tremendous change occurred the day he was born again. The seed of righteousness was planted in his soul.xvi The core of his being was transformed into a new creation. By his faith in the work of the cross, Paul was justified before God. He was given right standing before the Father. All he had to do was receive the gift of righteousness that Christ earned for him at Calvary. When you got saved two things happened: (1) you were forgiven and given right standing before God in Christ (2) you were born from above. In that sense Paul was already saved.
However, a newborn has not fully developed into the adult he or she is designed to be. There is a growth process that takes the infant to maturity. That mature image of Christ is what Paul has not yet attained to. So, he says in verse 12, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal.” He has been born again, but he still has some maturing and development to do.xvii
Paul had attained to a good level of maturity when he wrote this epistle. But he also knew that he had a way to go before being fully conformed to the image of Christ. He did not assume or presume He had already attained that. He knew what the goal was. But He also knew he was not there yet.
We are all work in process. We do not use that fact to justify sin.xviii But we do know that our work on earth is not over, and God’s work in us is still going on. We understand that about ourselves, and therefore do not lose heart. But we also understand it in regard to other believers. That reminds us to keep our expectations of them realistic. That reminds us to be patient with them and show some compassion on their struggles. It’s like a t-shirt I once saw that read, “Be patient with me; God is not finished with me yet.” Paul was acknowledging that he too was work in process when he wrote, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at
my goal.” The King James Version says, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.”
The journey to get Paul to the finish line would be mixed with experiences in the power of God and in the sufferings of Christ. It would be like going through an obstacle course. It would not necessarily be easy. But God would take him through those experiences. And by the grace of God he would arrive at his destination.xix
Paul knew something else about all this.
III. Paul understood that his COOPERATION was required for the fulfillment of God’s purposes in him.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Notice how he uses phrases like “I press on to take hold,” and in verse 13 “straining toward what is ahead,” and again in verse 14 “I press on toward the goal.” Those are not the words of a passive person. Those are not the words of an apathetic or complacent person. Those are the words of a man passionately and aggressively pursuing the goal. Paul’s words here are full of active engagement.
Paul has already exhorted the Christians at Philippi to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” He is not talking about their initial experience of justification. He is talking about the process of sanctification that goes on in every believer’s life. Faith is an active word. It does not lean back and passively wait for things to happen.xx It steps out in obedience and cooperation with what God is doing. Paul articulated both sides of the sanctification process in Philippians 2:12: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Our side of that is only possible because God is working in us “both to will and to do.” It would all be in vain if He were not doing that. But He is working in us. He is transforming our motives and renewing our minds. He is inspiring us to move in the right direction. And it is His power working in us that gives us the will and the ability to press forward toward the goal. Without Him we can do nothing.xxi So Paul encourages these Philippians to do the same thing he is doing and to work hard at it—strain yourselves some in the process.
Someone might say, “But we are under grace; we don’t need to do that.” It is grace that enables you to do it. It is grace that inspires you to do it. Remember what Paul said about grace in 1 Corinthians 15:10? “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Is that the way God’s grace has affected you? Does it cause you to work harder than all of them? Or has it become an excuse for laziness?xxii Paul was not trying to earn his salvation. He knew Jesus had already done that for him. But he was responding to God’s work of salvation in the appropriate way.
Apathy should never be Christians attitude toward God’s grace in their lives. “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,” wrote the prophet Amos (6:1). The Laodicean church became self-satisfied with their condition. They were saying, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (KJV). They were not seeing their true condition. Jesus said to them, “But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17, NKJV).
When we see our true condition, we know there is still work to be done. When we are in communion with Christ and measure our progress by His holy nature, we realize our sanctification is not yet complete. He is the true plumb line. He is the standard. Your neighbor is not the standard. Comparing ourselves one with another is not wise.xxiii That can lead to false conclusions. We should always be looking to Jesus as the pattern. The rules and regulations of a church or denomination are not the standard. Jesus is the standard.xxiv When you are “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” you see the need you have for more transformation (2 Cor. 3:18). When you are applying the word with honesty, it becomes a mirror revealing the true condition. It exposes what changes need to be made. James talks about that in his epistle (James 1:23-25). The goal in our text is a lofty one; Paul knew he had not yet attained it.
IV. Paul also understood that reaching the finish line was to be the ALL-CONSUMING goal of his life.
He sacrificed everything to reach the goal God had set for him (Phil. 3:8). He strained every muscle to obtain the prize. In verse 14 he says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” He kept his eyes “heavenward,” “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”xxv He saw every experience in the context of that goal. The metaphor he uses here is of a runner like in the Olympics. There is a prize to be won. There is a finish line to cross.
For success the runner must run toward the right finish line. He must run his race. At the end of his life Paul was able to say, “the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race [KJV says course], I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store 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 longed for his appearing.”xxvi If we love His appearing, our life is lived in anticipation of that appearing.
We have so mixed the American Dream into the gospel that many live for the things of this world thinking it is New Testament Christianity. Many have lost sight of the “heavenward” goal. But:
“This world is not my home.
I'm just a-passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue."xxvii
Make sure your treasure is in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy it and thieves cannot steal it.xxviii Make sure you’re investing your life is something that cannot be shaken by events in this world.
During the Brownsville Revival Steve Hill used to warn about racing to the wrong finish line.xxix Some are working hard, pressing, and straining toward their goal, but it is the wrong goal. Jesus talked about one man whose goal was to accumulate possessions. He was so successful at it that he needed to build bigger barns to hold it all. Then God spoke to the man and said, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”xxx If God has given you nice things, thank Him for them and enjoy them. But don’t set your heart on them. Hold them loosely. Don’t make that your goal in life. Harm has come to the American church because of pastors racing toward the wrong finish line. The finish line is not a bigger, wealthier church. The finish line is not personal notoriety. The finish line is knowing Christ and being conformed to His image.
The prize is knowing Christ. The fullness of that is realized at His coming when are bodies are resurrected. Then we will see Him as He is without the limitations of these mortal bodies. But resurrected believers will not have the same capacity for knowing Him.xxxi That will depend upon the maturity attained during this earthly journey. An infant knows his father as fully as he is capable of knowing him. But that man’s wife knows him in ways beyond the infant’s capacity. The infant may delight in his father’s smile. But the wife can go beyond that and appreciate the depth of his reasoning and the nuances of his humor. We will all know Christ at the resurrection. But we will not all know Him at the same level because of our own limitations of understanding.
In the same way, not every Christian will have the same capacity to carry responsibility in heaven. Some will be granted authority over ten cities. Others will have authority over five.xxxii Your process of sanctification has eternal consequences. The failure to understand the significance of this has caused some Christians to be complacent in the race. In contrast, Paul is pressing and stretching for more. Instead of taking it all for granted, he makes his calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).
In his second epistle Peter says essentially the same thing Paul is saying in our text. He talks how God has “given us everything we need for life and godliness.” Then he tells us what we need to do to make our calling and election sure.
“But also for this very reason [because God has provided everything you need to do this], giving all diligence [or as Paul has put it; pressing toward the goal], add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” (2 Pet. 1:5-10, NKJV).
The goal set before us must be pursued with diligence. For Paul it was an all-consuming endeavor, and it should be for us as well.
V. Paul also understood that reaching the goal and winning the prize could only be accomplished by keeping his FOCUS on the goal.
In verse 13 he described the way he ran his race with these words, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”
There are many things Paul could have been doing. But he says here, “one thing I do.” That one thing had two sides to it: forgetting the past and straining toward the future. There is a certain intensity to the race we are running. On the one hand, we rest in God’s love and acceptance. On the other hand, we strain to fulfill His purpose for us. It is paradoxical but necessary that we live in that tension. The rest we enjoy is not complacency or inactivity; it is trust and assurance. The effort we exert is not frantic or aimless. It is tenacious and purposeful. Can you say of your Christian life, “But one thing I do”? Or is your Christianity a minor attachment to a life busy with many other things. A good runner does not allow himself to be distracted with other things.xxxiii He is there to run the race, and he stays focused on crossing the finish line successfully.
When a runner is in a race, the worst thing he can do is look back to see what’s behind him.xxxiv As far as reaching his goal, it does not matter what’s behind him. He needs to stay focused on what is ahead of him: “Forgetting what is behind.”
In this context Paul is probably referring to his former accomplishments as a Pharisee.xxxv But it doesn’t matter what it is, the focus should be on where you’re going, not where you’ve been. Some lose momentum because they let past success keep them from pressing forward. People my age must be careful not to sit down as if the course is finished. It’s not finished until the last breath is breathed. There are no seats in the racing lanes. There is no place to sit and bask on what has been. Past revival should inspire us to believe for a current revival. Sitting around and talking about the good old days, gets us nowhere. The good old days are ahead of us, and we are to press into them. We are to believe for more than we had in the past. We are to keep moving toward our God-ordained future.
Some lose momentum by looking back on past abuse they have suffered. Those matters should be addressed. There may be people we need to forgive. There may be healing we need to ask God to bring into our lives. But we don’t camp there. We deal with matters, then turn our focus on the future that God has designed for us to walk in—no, run in. He will redeem the past and work it all together for our good. “Move forward. Move forward. Advance!” That is Paul’s battle cry in the text.
Some lose momentum by looking back on their own past failures. There may be some work to do to put that past to rest. We may have to confess the sin and make some restitution. Just do it and then embrace the future God has for you.
Pour yourself into the calling God has on your life.xxxvi Every person hearing this message has a calling from the Lord. Fulfilling that purpose during the few days you have in this life is of supreme importance.xxxvii When it’s all said and done, you don’t want to lay on your death bed full of regrets. There will be some disappointments along the way for all of us. But you want to finish with a note of triumph like Paul did when he said: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”xxxviii
ENDNOTES:
i 1 John 2:15-17. See Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019) 95-110.
ii That is not a pleasant possibility to face, but better now than later.
iii Phil. 2:5; Rom. 12:1-2; Col. 3:2.
iv All Scripture quotes, unless indicated otherwise, are from the New International Version.
v 2 Cor. 5:17.
vi Cf. Phil. 1:1; 2:7.
vii Cf. Acts 17:27.
viii Cf. Eph. 1:4-5; Jer. 1:5.
ix Jonah 2:9 (KJV).
x Cf. Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:20.
xi “Well, why did Christ apprehend Paul? First, it was to convert him completely, to make a new man of him, to turn him from all his old ways and pursuits, and put him on quite a different road.” Charles Spurgeon’s sermon 2315 entitled “Paul, Apprehended and Apprehending” preached July 2, 1893. Accessed at The C. H. Spurgeon Collection on CD-ROM (AGES Software, Inc., 1998).
xii If we view the events of life through this paradigm, we will better understand their meaning and purpose. It is easier to endure a hardship, for example, if we know it is something God is using for our good. Joseph was able to see the sufferings that his brothers brought on him in the context of God’s overall plan for his life (Gen. 50:20).
xiii 1 John 4:19 (KJV). See Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019) 292-294.
xiv This easily leads to legalism and self-righteousness (Lk. 18:11-12). Continued fellowship with Christ in the Spirit protects us from spiritual pride. As we see His loveliness and perfection, we are aware of our own imperfections and need for more sanctification (Job 42:5-6; Isa. 6:5; Rev. 1:17).
xv Ps. 84:7.
xvi 1 Pet. 1:23.
xvii This is why Peter writes to new believers saying, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2).
xviii Consistent with what Paul is teaching in our Philippian text, Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned [past tense] and fall short [present tense] of the glory of God.” Our current lack of perfection should not be used to justify sin. Instead it should cause us to press diligently toward the goal relying on the grace of God for better success (Matt. 5:48).
xix Cf. 2 Tim. 1:12; Rom. 8:38-39; Ps. 23; Isa. 43:1-2.
xx James 2:14-26. Consider all the active verbs in Hebrews 11.
xxi John 15:5; Eph. 1:19.
xxii We do not despair when we see work that still needs to be done in because we know that God is working in our behalf. But any doctrine that leaves the believer complacent about his imperfections is suspect and contrary to Paul’s message in our current text.
xxiii 2 Cor. 10:12.
xxiv When men set the standard, they can easily distort it even when intentions are good (Jer. 17:9). Jesus told the Pharisees they had actually negated the commandments of God by modifying them with their own traditioons (Matt. 15:3-6).
xxv Heb. 12:2 (KJV). There is an eschatological tone to Paul’s statements in this text to point us to the final culmination of the process when his “knowing Christ” is made complete. In verse 11 he concludes his previous remarks with this purpose, “and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” He concludes today’s text by saying in verse 14, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” “The one whose motto is ‘to live is Christ, to die is [to] gain [Christ] is not focusing now on the means to that end, but on the eschatological culmination itself—the ultimate apprehension of Christ.” Gordon Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, N. B. Stonehouse, F. Bruce, G. Fee, and J. Green, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995)
xxvi 2 Tim. 4:7-8.
xxvii Jim Reeves, “This World Is Not My Home.” Accessed 8-29-20 at https://www.bing.com/search?q=song+this+world+is+not+my+home+lyrics&form=ANSPH1&refig=9643a001ed864e129c89c3d245ce7043&pc=U531&sp=3&qs=AS&pq=song+this+world&sk=PRES1AS2&sc=7-15&cvid=9643a001ed864e129c89c3d245ce7043.
xxviii Matt. 6:19; 1 Pet. 1:4.
xxix Cf. 2 Tim. 2:5.
xxx Luke 12:20
xxxi Spurgeon writes, “You shall be as full as the greatest vessel; but you shall have smaller capacity.” Charles Spurgeon’s sermon 2315 entitled “Paul, Apprehended and Apprehending” preached July 2, 1893. Accessed at The C. H. Spurgeon Collection on CD-ROM (AGES Software, Inc., 1998).
xxxii Luke 19:15-19; 2 Cor. 5:10. The “wood, hay, and stubble” in 1 Cor. 3:10-15 is works performed pursuing the wrong goals with the wrong motives.
xxxiii Cf. Neh. 6:3; Ps. 27:4; Mk. 10:21; 2 Tim. 2:4.
xxxiv See Luke 9:62.
xxxv Paul may also be alluding to the fact that the ceremonial provisions of the Jewish covenant are things of the past that should not distract the Philippian believers from the race they are running in Christ. “By ‘pursuing’ Torah observance as ‘advancement,’ they [any Philippians who might be deceived by the Judaizers] would in fact be after the very things Paul has gladly put behind him as refuse.” Fee. 348.
xxxvi As Wiersbe says, “. . . we break the power of the past by living for the future.” Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Joyful, 1974 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1986) 109.
xxxvii Ps. 90:12; James 4:14.
xxxviii 2 Tim. 4:7-8 (KJV).
