Reaching For The Prize (Part 2)

LAST TIME WE WERE LOOKING AT THE SUBJECT OF …PURSUING THE GOAL .. OR … REACHING FOR THE PRIZE…..IN PHIL. 3:12 – 16

12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

WE SAW LAST TIME …THAT THE STARTING POINT TO GROWTH …IS A BLESSED DISCONTENT ..

A BLESSED DISSATISFACTION ….

A RECOGNITION THAT WE ARE NOT WHAT WE OUGHT TO BE.

SELF-DISSATISFACTION ..

THE SECOND THING IS THAT THERE MUST BE MAXIMUM EFFORT .. .TO PURSUE THAT BETTER CONDITION …

THAT’S THERE IN V12

12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

I FOLLOW AFTER ..

OR .. . ‘ PRESS ON’

THIS IS THE WORD THAT IS USED OF A …SPRINTER …

AND THE WORD MEANS ….

AGGRESSIVE ENERGETIC ENDEAVOUR ….

HE SAYS … ‘I AM RUNNING AFTER THIS THING WITH ALL MY MIGHT …’

THIS IS .. ‘PURSUING THE PRIZE’ – 1 COR. 9

THIS IS …‘FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT’ … 1 TIM. 6:12

THIS IS .. ‘RUNNING TO WIN’ – HEB. 12:1

THIS IS ..

laying aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and running with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; …

MAXIMUM EFFORT..

V12 AGAIN ..

12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

THAT WORD .. ‘APPREHEND’ .. IT MEANS … TO SEIZE ..TO GRASP ….

‘I AM AFTER THAT FOR WHICH ALSO I WAS LAID HOLD OF BY CHRIST.’

AND THAT IS A …FASCINATING STATEMENT ….

‘ I AM …. PURSUING … THE VERY THING … THAT WAS THE REASON …. THAT JESUS .. .PURSUED ME.’

JESUS ..SAVED ME …FOR A PURPOSE ….

AND THAT PURPOSE THAT HE HAD ..FOR SAVING ME …. HAS BECOME … MY LIFE’S GOAL.

MY WILL . . .IS HIS WILL …..

I WANT … FOR ME .. . WHAT HE WANTS FOR ME …

I WANT … FOR ME .. .WHAT JESUS SAVED ME . .TO ACCOMPLISH..

YES . .I KNOW I AM NOT PERFECT …. STILL A SINNER … BUT I REACH OUT.. TO THAT GOAL ..

WHAT IS IT???

ROM. 8:28

28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

THAT’S THE GOAL . . OF OUR LIFE …

TO BE LIKE CHRIST..

SO . .WE ARE ALL .. IN A LIFE-LONG .. .PURSUIT . .OF …CHRIST’S LIKENESS.

MAXIMUM EFFORT ..

SO .. FIRST OF ALL … THERE HAS TO BE A ..SELF-DISSATISFACTION ….

A WANTING FOR MORE ….A WANTING TO GROW ..

THERE NEEDS TO BE .. MAXIMUM EFFORT …

AND THIRDLY … THERE NEEDS TO BE ….FOCUSED CONCENTRATION..

THAT’S THERE . . IN V13 & 14

13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

AN UNBELIEVABLE LEVEL . . OF CONCENTRATION …

FOCUSED …

IT IS ..FOCUSED PEOPLE . . WHO SUCCEED AT WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

THERE ARE SO MANY … PEOPLE . .WHO ARE ..CLEVER AT A LOT OF THINGS ….

BUT THEY ARE NOT SUCCESSFUL AT ANYTHING ….. BECAUSE THEY CAN NEVER ….. FOCUS THEIR LIVES …

THIS IS WHY THE PSALMIST SAID …

‘LORD .. UNITE MY HEART ….’ … FOCUSED ON THE LORD.

THIS IS WHY JAMES SAYS THAT A …..DOUBLE-MINDED PERSON IS …UNSTABLE IN ALL THEIR WAYS ….

AND BLOWN ALL OVER THE PLACE…

“PAUL… WHAT’S YOUR FOCUS?”

14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.