How many of you happened to be here a few weeks ago when I showed the State Farm commercial as the opening illustration? The point was to show how easily it is to misunderstand a conversation, especially if you are only hearing one side of it. This week, when I was working on my sermon, I was actually reminded of another commercial by another insurance company called Geico. This particular commercial featured Pinocchio, the puppet whose nose grows if he lies. I thought since you responded so well to the State Farm commercial that what I would instead of having to create an opening illustration, I would just allow you to watch this commercial for your viewing pleasure. (Commercial shown here.) As you can see, not everybody makes a great motivational speaker, especially if his name is Pinocchio. As we continue our study in the book of Philippians today, we will see that the apostle Paul was not only a good pastor, but really he was quite the motivational leader because he was able to paint a picture of reality of life with Jesus, what it could look like, and then spur people on toward that goal. We have been going through this series called Philippians and going through the book of Philippians. We talked about several times that the book of Philippians is actually a letter that was written by the apostle Paul to the church that he planted in the city of Philippi.
As we know, last week was Easter and I thought I was going to have to take a break from the Philippian study to focus on a gospel passage that dealt with the resurrection. But fortunately, the timing was perfect because the Philippian passage that was due that particular week happened to fit right in with the resurrection passage. So we are right on target to finish the series about May 10. What I did last week was look at two passages that dealt with the resurrection. The first one being from the gospel of Luke that pretty much detailed the complete story of the events of resurrection morning. Then I coupled that with a passage from Philippians that spoke not so much about the resurrection but a man named Paul who didn’t just want to know the resurrection as a series of events but wanted to embrace the resurrection as a reality in his life. He goes on to say in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” This was the key passage last week. What I talked about was the idea that when Paul says he wants to know Christ, he didn’t just want to know him on an informational level by reading about him. He wanted to really know him on an experiential level, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact, what some scholars suggest is that Paul had such an intense desire to know Christ that he actually wanted to feel the pain that Christ felt as the nails were driven into his hands and feet on the cross. My point being last week is that we should seek to know Christ in that sort of a way. We should seek out the power of the resurrection even though that resurrection power often comes alongside with sufferings. I mentioned how the daily sufferings that we experience just by living in a fallen, broken world, as well as the sufferings that we experience by being followers of Christ are part of the process. By experiencing those sufferings, we fellowship in some mysterious way with Christ’s sufferings and then we are able to actually experience the full power of the resurrection within our lives.
This passage makes it clear that Paul had an incredible passion to know Christ. I mentioned how, next to Jesus, Paul was probably the most popular person in the New Testament if not the entire Bible and probably one of the most quoted persons. He wasn’t just quoted because he wrote half the New Testament but really again I think the appeal towards Paul is because he had this intense desire to know Jesus Christ in a very real, very experiential way. I have been a Christian for about 30 years and, to be honest with you, I have known a lot of Christians, but I have never known anyone that had the passion for Christ as Paul did. In fact, speaking for myself, to reflect on this passage in particular is really to realize how I am in some sense a slacker when it comes to spirituality or the love of Jesus Christ. I imagine that there were people in the church in Philippi that, when they received this letter, were kind of feeling the same way. The apostle Paul was some sort of a super saint and there was no way they could ever measure up to that status. They could never know Christ the way that Paul knew Christ. Paul seems to address this. He seems to know that they have been thinking this because he goes on to say “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.” This is The Message version. It shatters this idea that Paul is some sort of a super saint. Paul knew himself and obviously he knew God, he knew Christ. So he knew that in his life, he would never really know Christ as fully as Christ could be known because, for one, our minds are not capable of comprehending Christ. The second thing is that we have this thing in our life called sin that really keeps us from really ever fully knowing Christ in this world. In fact, Paul speaks about this in one of his earlier letters in 1 Corinthians where he writes “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Paul again implies here that there is only a partial understanding of Jesus Christ, but that does not deter him from wanting to press on to seek as much knowledge of Christ as he can in this world.
That is why he goes on to write in today’s passage “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” As you know, Paul is good at different types of imagery. He is using this Olympian-type imagery as a metaphor for our own relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul places himself in this metaphor. He sees himself as somebody running a race with his eyes on the goal. He gets to the goal line and he sees himself basically being called up by the judge to receive his prize, which would have been a laurel wreath or something like that. Similar to how a victor in the Olympian race would be called up by the judge to receive a crown or the laurel wreath or something like that. One thing we don’t know in this passage is what is the prize that he is talking about. But based on those prior passages that I just brought up, many think that at a minimum it is Paul getting a more complete understanding of Christ and seeing Christ as he really is. At a minimum, that is the prize he is going for. Paul is probably banking on the notion that, if the Philippian people perceive some sort of a prize out there, they will want the same thing that he has. Paul does use a variety of words as he does and a variety of metaphors and creates this reality out there, so to speak, to really show what life with Christ will be in the future but also is available to us right in the present. So in that sense I think of Paul as a really good motivational leader because he is able to present this reality that he sees but other people really don’t see.
How many of you know the name Steve Jobs? A former CEO of Apple. He passed away about four years ago. How many of you know the name Mark Sciaruto? Less people. He is my step-son who, when he is not up here behind the drum shield or creating great music, he is over in South Hills working for Apple Corporation and selling things like the Apple Watch. It is a phenomenal product. It does stuff that we didn’t even know we needed until now but that is beside the point. It is one of the many hundreds of products that Apple has created over the past 40 years. Whether or not you like these types of products or buy Apple products or not, it really doesn’t matter because you have to hand it to Apple that they continue to produce innovative product after innovative product, products that most people didn’t even think were possible to be made. They can trace that motivation and innovation back to Steve Jobs. When I was talking to Mark the other night about Apple, he told me there was a phrase that was coined about Steve Jobs. It is a phrase called “Reality Distortion Field”. It was coined about Steve Jobs because apparently, I don’t know all the details, but when he was in a conference room he would often present this outrageous idea for a new product and the rest of the employees would just sit back and say there is no way. You cannot produce this. It is impossible. We don’t have enough time, technology, talent to produce this type of thing. So what Steve Jobs was doing was distorting their reality. Their reality was small. Their reality was very limited. Steve Jobs reality was very large. Because Steve Jobs was the one who cut the paycheck, they had to hopefully begin to see his reality and really make it happen or they would lose their job. That is why you have these ongoing products that are produced and have made Apple one of the most successful companies in the entire world right now.
I say all that to let you know that I think in some sense the apostle Paul was kind of like that. In fact, I think if he was here today, he wouldn’t be a tent maker. He would probably be a watch maker or something for Apple. At a minimum, he would be out there giving us realities that we think are totally impossible. That is what he does by his words. Again, we read the words back in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” What does that mean? That is just like it is so beyond our reality so we are thinking, Paul, you are just crazy. No one can experience that level of knowledge of Christ. He says sure you can. You just have to open your eyes and see it. He would probably go back and reference the gospel writer John who wrote in 1 John “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” There is a lot of stuff in this passage but the bottom line is he is trying to get the people to open their eyes. The first thing is the reality is right now you are children of God. I wonder how many of you really believe that you are a child of God. He would be up here saying you are a child of God. Believe that. That is a fact right now. If you are a born-again Christian, you are a child of God. But he says some day you are going to be more. Some day when Christ appears, you are going to be just like him. You are going to know him “for we shall see him as he is.” That is the stuff that is coming. That is the stuff that he is pushing it for. Rather than be discouraged because he has not yet arrived, he is basically excited to get his hands on any part of the reality right now. That is why he goes on and says “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” He wants the people to see that.
As a side note, when we think about this idea of the one thing. Some people don’t know what the one thing that he is talking about. Many believe that the one thing is the idea of pressing on and that the one thing is really made up of two smaller things. The idea of forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead. If you know Paul, you know that Paul had a lot of stuff in his past. Both good stuff and bad stuff. We talked about last week that he had a ton of accomplishments. He was a student of the law and a student of the word. He had a great relationship with God. He understood the law. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews from the tribe of Benjamin. All these stacks and stacks of accomplishments. He is basically saying I need to forget that. That is nice but what happens is that stuff can become an obstacle to my full knowledge of Jesus Christ because what can happen is that stuff might creep in and I get a little prideful. Or sometimes even worse, I invested all this time in all this accomplishment and I don’t want to let this stuff go. He sees that it could hinder his relationship with Christ and his fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ. But he also had some not-so-good stuff in the past. As we talked about a few weeks ago I think in Acts 7. The first time we meet Paul he is holding the cloaks of the Jews that are executing the first Christian martyr, Stephen. That is the first introduction of Paul. Although we don’t know for sure, Paul might even have been involved in the murders of Christians in his early years. He had to learn to let that stuff in the past go. In fact, if Paul was here today, he would like that song in Frozen “Let It Go”. He would have known he had to let go of the past. He would have to let go of the good, bad, and ugly. He had to just let that stuff go. Not only did he have to let that stuff go, but he had to strain forward toward what is ahead past the many obstacles that he knew he was going to encounter. He is writing this from a Roman jail cell. He didn’t even know if he was going to get out. So he has that obstacle and when he gets out he knows he is going to face people that just do not believe what he believes from the pagans to the nonbelievers. He knows he is going to face the Pharisees who see this new thing called Christianity as a threat. He knows he is just going to face the everyday obstacles of living in first century Rome. He had all this stuff he had to face. So he had to look past that stuff and strain forward. In fact, this idea of straining toward something is a picture of a runner in an arena who is crouched down, body forward, head up, eyes focused on the goal. That is the picture that he is trying to make there. Likewise, if we are going to make any progress in our spiritual formation, we too have to let go of the stuff in the past and we have to strain toward what is ahead. Look past the obstacles.
As I begin to wind this up, I think some of you are thinking, Chuck, you make that sound so easy. I know it is not easy. Speaking for myself and I am sure some of you would agree, the first time we try to get better in our relationship with God, the first time we encounter some sort of resistance we kind of just buckle under and stop. My last aside for this sermon is I want to talk about a book that addresses this idea of resistance. Has anybody heard of the book The War of Art? Very few people. It is an amazing book. The title seems strange but it is not so strange when you begin to dig into it and you realize that really the book is about the creative people, the writers, the artists, the painters, the musicians, who are trying to create all the time and they constantly are dealing with a battle inside of them. He would identify the biggest enemy in this battle is resistance. He defines resistance as “that destructive force inside human nature that rises whenever we consider a tough, long-term course of action that might do for ourselves or others what is actually good.” It is important that you get that. Then he goes on and gives examples of how resistance manifests itself. I think this will resonate with a lot of people. The obvious one being procrastination. I will write the great American novel, but I will start tomorrow. I am going to go on this exercise plan, but I am going to start tomorrow. That is the basic form of resistance, but then you get into other forms of resistance he talks about. A big one being fear. Fear of failure. What if I fail? What will people think of me? What if I succeed? Am I going to be able to handle the success? It could even be fear of change. There are a lot of people that are just fearful of any sort of change. Then he brings up distractions. Distractions that are so innocent like email or technology or going out and playing golf. Those things aren’t bad, unless you are trying to advance yourself and do something else that is going to make you better, those things are forms of resistance. The one that I like that really hit home was the idea that sometimes we create resistance because of allowing too much personal drama in our lives. Anybody have personal drama? We could have a support group right now. But it made so much sense. Some of you might not like to hear this but what he was saying was some people are like drama magnets and draw drama into their life because as long as they have the drama in their life, they have an excuse not to make their own life better. Do you hear what I am saying? Why do some people have so much drama and other people don’t? Does one have problems and the other ones don’t? No. Drama becomes a form of resistance which means they don’t have to change. They use the drama as an excuse. I could go on for days on this one, but I am not going to. What is good about the book is he acknowledges that it doesn’t just apply to the creative types. It really applies to anybody who is trying to better their life. Whether it is getting an advanced degree. Whether it is going on a diet plan. Whether it is getting a new career.
But he also mentions anybody who is trying to advance themselves spiritually. That is where it comes back to Paul. What Paul is trying to do in all those big fancy words and metaphors is grow you spiritually. That is all he is trying to do. Because he knows that the best thing that can happen in the Philippians’ life and the best thing that can happen to everybody in the room here is to grow spiritually into the image of Christ. There is not a better thing that you could be doing than spiritually advancing yourself. Forming yourself in the image of Christ. When you do that, it is going to benefit you. It is going to benefit your spouse. It is going to benefit your kids. It is going to benefit the employees you surround yourself with. It is going to benefit all sorts of people. As you begin to seek out what I call the experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ, you are going to naturally want to please him. You are going to see the stuff in you that needs to change. You actually might even try to listen to his teachings and respond to them. The end result is you are going to be a better version of yourself than you are now. We operate version 1 and version 2. Version 1 is what I would call the false self. Version 2 is the true self. This guy Pressfield goes on to say “Most of us have two lives; the life we live, which I would call the false self, and the unlived life, the true self within us. The false self is the self that you have allowed your circumstances, your schooling, the people around you, culture to create in you.” That is the false self. That isn’t you. That is the self that you have allowed yourself to be created into by society, by your family, by your circumstances, by your negative events. That is phony. That is fake. God has created somebody else within you that he is trying to blossom out of you. That is the real self. That is the self that you were created to be even before you were born. Then he goes on to say though “Between the two stands resistance. If you believe in God, you must declare resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when he endowed each of us with our own unique genius.” Read that again. Who is the evil one? Has he come to give us life? No. He seeks to destroy and kill. But I would go one step farther and say the evil is not Satan. The evil is sometimes inside of us. It is the stuff that we have created. The enemy doesn’t need to come against us because sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We are the one preventing us from being the true self that God intended us to be.
So if we are going to make any progress in our spiritual growth, the first thing you have to do is recognize and begin to see the reality that Paul saw. Even though you don’t see it, just like the employees of Apple didn’t see it, you believe it exists. You hunger for it. You realize there is a more fuller knowledge of God and really a more fuller knowledge of yourself out there, but you have to pursue it. You have to press on, which means that you each have to identify your resistance. You have to understand. That is why you have to spend time in prayer and meditation. You can’t identify it on your own. That is why you have to talk to people. What do you see? What is causing me to not move forward in my life? Is it fear? Is it fear of change? Is it fear of failure? Is it fear of success? Try to pinpoint what that is? Is it the need to control your life? Could that be it? Is it some sort of a distraction that is out there such as emails or technology or sports or anything like that? Do you use those things as a form of resistance to keep you from being the better person that God has created you to be? Or again I touched home with some of you people. Is it personal drama? I can’t believe the personal drama that I encounter in this town. It is crazy. You have to identify that and you have to be willing to change. You can get past your drama. You don’t need to be a drama magnet. You just have to learn to set boundaries and move away from that.
The bottom line is if you want to begin to pursue the reality that Paul places out here; the reality of not only knowing Christ in a way that we have never known him before, but a way of knowing yourself in the way that God intended for you before you were even born. In other words, you have to embrace this passage: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Let us pray.
