scroll to 23:08 for beginning of sermon
Philippians 3:12-14
All right, thank you for your singing. We’ll read a couple of verses from Philippians chapter 3. This is Paul telling his life story and we’re going to focus on just these three verses this morning. Here’s what Paul writes to the church at Philippi.
Not that I have already obtained all this. He’s talking about his Christian Walk and knowing Christ better. Where I’ve already arrived at my goal but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All right, we are plowing our way through the book of Philippians and just a reminder, this is one of Paul’s prison epistles and he was sent to Rome because he wants a trial there and he’s a Roman citizen and he’s under house arrest for two years and what’s Paul do? He makes some good use of his time there and he writes four letters.
One of them that we’re looking at this morning is really a thank you note because the Church of Philippi sent a man by the name of Epaphroditus with a gift for Paul. Paul also shared the gospel and so at the end of the book of Philippians, he says, I bring you greetings from Caesar’s household and through Paul’s witness, some people in Caesar’s household came to faith in Jesus and so this morning we’re going to look at a couple verses from Philippians chapter 3, just three verses and think about some principles of spiritual growth. I love springtime.
It is spring, isn’t it? It doesn’t quite feel like it yet. It’s coming in about four or five days. Temperature’s going to warm up but I love the changing seasons and we get to spring and a little warmer temperature, longer daylight, there’s some signs of life, greener grass, budding trees, flowers that bloom and it reminds us of a basic principle that where there’s life, there’s some evidences of life.
That’s true in the natural material world but that’s also true in the spiritual world and so the scriptures give us some analogies to describe what happens when we invite Jesus into our life as our Savior. There’s a tremendous change that takes place. Ephesians 5:8 says, we pass from darkness into light.
That’s Ephesians 5:8, you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord live as children of light but earlier in the book of Philippians, Paul gives the reference of passing from death because Ephesians 2:1 says, before we knew Christ, we were dead in our transgressions and sins but now because of Christ’s mercy and our salvation, we have what? We have a life. We have life.
Main point
We’ve passed from death to life and so here’s our main point this morning that we’re going to look at. After our spiritual birth, I hope you have two birthdays. For me, a physical birthday, November 5th, 1955. I tell people you multiply the number of the month times the day and you get the year so that’s my claim to fame.
11 times 5 is 55 but I also have a spiritual birthday, November 23rd, 1963, eight years old. Now some people can’t remember a specific day when they came to know Christ and don’t let that, you know, get you a little upset. Not everyone can remember a specific time.
In order to grow spiritually, I must…
The important thing is to know that at some point in time, you put your faith in Jesus to be your savior and your sin bearer. So, after our spiritual birth, God’s desire for us is to grow, to grow spiritually. If we’re not growing spiritually, there’s two possible reasons.
We’re either still dead spiritually or we’re dormant or stagnant and that’s very easy to fall into that in the Christian Walk and the Christian journey, just to be dormant or stagnant in our Christian growth. And Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers in 1st Corinthians 3, he says, I wish I could address you as spiritual, as mature, but you’re still babies in Jesus, babies in Christ, you’re still infants. And so, God wants us to grow and this morning in these three verses, we’re going to look at four principles from the Apostle Paul that will help us on our growth journey with Jesus.
I. Not to be content or satisfied with my spiritual growth
So, let’s look at the first one. Here’s principle number one, principles of spiritual growth. In order to grow spiritually, I must not be content or satisfied with my spiritual growth.
In other words, where I am in my Christian Walk. In order to grow spiritually, I must not be content or satisfied with where I am in my walk with Jesus. What I find interesting, here’s the Apostle Paul, you know, three missionary journeys and started all sorts of churches and wrote 12 or 13 books in the New Testament.
And what does Paul say here? I’m not satisfied with my Christian Walk. And that’s where he starts out. Not that I’ve already obtained all this and that’s a reference back to the previous verses where he says, I want to know Christ.
I want to know the power of his resurrection and participate in his sufferings. He’s talking about sanctification and he says, I’m not there yet. I’ve not arrived.
I still have a ways to go. So, here’s the Apostle Paul and he is still struggling saying I need to become more and more like Jesus. In fact, in Romans 7:15, he very honestly admits the things I want to do, I don’t do.
The things I don’t want to do, I do. And he says, oh wretched man that I am. And Paul’s in this struggle between the spiritual life and those still sinful pull of the flesh.
So, in order to grow spiritually, I must not be content or satisfied with where I am in my walk with God. It was Dr. Warren Wiersbe who said, a sanctified dissatisfaction is the first essential to progress in spiritual growth. So, the first step toward growing spiritually is that I have room to grow and I’m not happy or satisfied with where I am.
And that will put us on the pathway of spiritual growth. And so, the fact of the matter is we never get to the point where we say, well, I’ve arrived. I’ve reached sinless perfection.
That’s not going to happen on this side of heaven. That will happen someday when we’re in our glorified bodies. And John says, we will be like Jesus because we’ll see him as he is and our lives will be totally transformed.
And our journey in heaven, there’s no what? No sin, no suffering, no sorrow, no sadness. But on this side of heaven, we’re never going to arrive at that point of sinless perfection. Well, that’s the first principle, not to be content or satisfied with my spiritual growth.
II. Be focused on God’s plan and purpose for my life
Here’s principle number two. In order to grow spiritually, I must be focused on God’s purpose for my life. So, I need to not be satisfied and content with where I am, but I also need to focus on God’s purpose for my life.
Notice what Paul says in verse 12. Not that I’ve already obtained all this, I’ve already arrived at my goal, for I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Sometimes when people give their testimonies of coming to faith in Christ, they’ll use a phrase like, well, God got a hold of my life.
And we know what they mean. Your life has changed and you’ve come to know Christ as your savior. And Paul says, God got a hold of my life.
And he certainly did. Acts chapter nine, that dramatic conversion. Paul was on the road to Damascus to get Christians out of their homes and persecute them and put them in prison.
And then Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. And so, Paul says that I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me. And so, what is God’s plan and purpose for our life? There’s, in one sense, a generic one for all of us.
And there’s also a more individualized plan that God has for your life. So, what’s the, what’s the overarching purpose that we could say, God wants, this is God’s plan for all of us, if you know Jesus, is to become Christ-like. And that’s Romans chapter eight, verse 29, that wonderful passage of scripture.
And verse 29 says that God foreknew, for those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And so, God wants all of us to grow in thinking like Jesus and talking like Jesus and acting like Jesus. We’re to be what the hands, the feet, the lips of Jesus to other people.
That’s the generic goal. But God also has a specific purpose for our life. And what was Paul’s? Paul’s purpose, why did God get a hold of Paul so dramatically? Because Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles.
And God’s goal and purpose of his life was to be this missionary statesman. And yes, Paul’s modus operandi when he got to a town was to go to the Jewish synagogue first. But ultimately, Paul was known as the apostle to the Gentiles.
And so, Paul’s specific plan and purpose was to be called by God to be a missionary, to take the gospel to the Gentile world. He was the very first one to preach the gospel in Europe. And Lydia, that woman who was a seller of purple, a businesswoman, became the first European convert through Paul’s witness.
The apostle Paul talks about this in the New Testament. Let me just reference a couple of verses, Acts chapter 9, verse 15. The apostle Paul, God’s talking to Ananias.
This is right after Paul’s conversion. Go, this man, Saul, is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles. Galatians chapter 1, verses 15 and 16.
The apostle Paul writes, but when God who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. So, Paul was specifically chosen, God’s plan for him was to be the great missionary statesman to the Gentile world. Well, our character goal is Christlikeness, but then God has a specific plan and purpose for each of us.
Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. I love verses 8 and 9 that basically says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
A lot of times we stop there, but here’s what verse 10 says, for we are God’s handiwork. The original word is poiema, God’s writing a story in our lives, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And so, God wants us to become like Christ, but God also has a plan and a purpose, a unique giftedness for each of us so that we can what? Do good works.
We’re not saved by good works, but we are saved what? To do good works. And that’s all part of God’s plan for our lives. And so very important, and if you’ve ever done a study and never done a study on spiritual giftedness, one of the key studies in scripture, there’s three sections of the New Testament that talk about spiritual gifts that God has given us.
And if you know Jesus as your savior, you have at least one. And there’s all sorts of gifts, the gift of serving, the gift of helps, the gift of giving, the gift of preaching, the gift of teaching, the gift of administration. There’s 12 or 14 of them.
And what we need to find is our giftedness. And then when we operate in our giftedness, we feel fulfilled and we feel satisfied and God uses us in that way. So, in order to grow spiritually, I must not be content or satisfied with my spiritual growth.
III. Let go of my past
I must be focused on God’s plan and purpose for my life. Two more to go. Here’s the third one. In order to grow spiritually, I must let go of my past. I must let go of my past. This is what Paul says as he writes to Philippians in this section of scripture.
Verse 13, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. I’m not there yet. But one thing I do, and he mentions two things, but he’s focused here.
One thing I do, forgetting what is behind. Now we need to learn from our past. But many Christians struggle with the whole matter of forgiveness.
And many Christians have a hard time forgiving themselves. And that will hold you back in your Christian Walk with God. And so, we need to learn to let go of our past.
What does the Bible say when you come to faith in Jesus? Your sins are paid for. You are forgiven. The apostle Paul in 1st Timothy 12, he’s giving his testimony.
He says, I was the chief of sinners. I was the worst sinner in his view. I was the worst sinner on the planet.
And he stood there while Stephen, the first martyr, was being killed and gave his approval. And he was persecuting the church. And Saul then met Jesus, and his life was changed.
And he didn’t let his past hold him back. Now some believers had a hard time accepting Paul, because when Paul became saved and they said that Paul wants to meet with you, they were like, we’re not meeting with that guy. And Barnabas and some others had to vouch for him, that no, this guy’s life has changed.
But we need to let go of our past. What does the Bible say? He’s removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. He’s buried them in the depths of the sea.
He says, I will remember them no more. Not that God forgets our sins because he is omniscient, but it means he will not hold them against us anymore. And so, we are forgiven by the wonderful grace of God.
Just think about some of the Bible characters in their past. Abraham, the father of the Gentiles, who at 75, God called him to leave Ur of the Chaldees, and God had a plan for Abraham that he revealed to him at 75. And I remember part of Abraham’s story.
At one point in time, they were down in Egypt and Abraham was afraid that his beautiful wife, Sarah, would be looked at in a wrong way. And so, he comes up with this plan. He lies.
This is my sister. And Abraham tells a lie. We think about Moses.
God used Moses, the great deliverer. Well, he committed murder. He killed an Egyptian.
Tried to hide him in the sand. Think about Rahab in the genealogy of Jesus. Well, she was a prostitute, but she came to faith and became part of the genealogy of Jesus.
David committed adultery, came up with a plan to hide his sin and sent Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, into the front line of the battle and told the rest of the soldiers to back away so that he’ll be killed so that David could have Bathsheba. And yet David’s called eventually a man after God’s own heart because he confessed that sin in Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. He’s writing those wonderful psalms of confession that he wrote and forgiveness.
And we mentioned Paul, the chief of sinners. And so oftentimes we let the past hold us back and we’re like, God could never use me because what I’ve done. And just the opposite is true.
God will use your pain, your past probably to develop your strength of ministering to other people. So as Dale Witherington, and I like this poem, it’s called The Life Builder’s Creed. It’s rather long, but I’m going to read it this morning.
Here’s what Dale Witherington writes. Today is the most important day of my life. You know, you don’t make much progress if you’re driving the car, and you’re looking in the rearview mirror all the time.
In fact, that’s kind of dangerous. He says, today is the most important day of my life. Yesterday with its successes and victories, struggles and failures is gone forever.
The past is past, done, finished. I cannot relive it. I cannot go back and change it, but I will learn from it and improve my today.
Today, this moment now, it is God’s gift to me and it is all that I have. Tomorrow with all his joys and sorrows, triumphs and troubles isn’t here yet. Indeed, tomorrow may never come.
Therefore, I will not worry about tomorrow. Today is what God has entrusted to me. It is all that I have.
I will do my best in it. I will demonstrate the best of me in it. My character, giftedness, abilities to my family and friends, clients and associates.
I will identify those things that are the most important to do today. And those things I will do until they are done. And when this day is done, I will look back with satisfaction at that which I have accomplished.
Then and only then will I plan my tomorrow, looking to improve upon today with God’s help. Then I shall go to sleep in peace and contentment. Well, letting go of the past is an important step.
And if you’ve ever struggled with God’s forgiveness, I’d encourage you to have some sort of little bonfire in your backyard and write that whatever issue is holding you back on a piece of paper and then add that to the bonfire and just say, thank God that that’s done, that’s forgiven, that’s under the blood of Jesus and move forward. That’s what Paul had to do. Forgetting my past.
IV. Keep looking ahead with my focus on the prize!
But then there’s a second part and that’s our fourth principle of spiritual growth here. Number four. Here it is.
Keep looking ahead with my focus on the prize. Keep looking ahead with my focus on the prize. Again, Philippians 3 verse 13-14.
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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. And so, Paul says, stop looking in the rearview mirror. You’re forgiven.
And now I want you to look forward, look ahead, look heavenward to what God has called you to do. Focus on the prize. The NIV here in verse 13 uses the word straining toward what is ahead.
The New King James Version, reaching forward to what is ahead. And the word literally means to stretch forth. The picture is of a hundred-meter dash.
And if you’ve ever seen a photo finish, when they get to the finish line, with all the energy they have, they lean forward because the winner is not like the first person to have maybe a hand cross the finish line, your torso, they base it on your torso. And so, they lean forward with all the energy that they have. And that’s the picture that Paul’s picturing here, that he is invested in effort and discipline and his spiritual walk and his spiritual growth.
And so, he writes to young Timothy, who’s a pastor in Ephesus in 1st Timothy chapter four. And here’s what Paul has to say. Last part of verse seven actually says, train yourself to be godly for physical training is of some value.
There’s value in a physical workout, but godliness has value for all things. Paul describes his spiritual discipline in 1st Corinthians 9. And it’s a reference to an athlete.
Here’s what he writes in 1st Corinthians 9:24 through 27. Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run? So, he’s picturing the Christian life as a race and it’s not a sprint, is it? It’s a marathon. It’s a long, long journey.
Everyone runs, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
They do it to get a crown that will not last. He’s talking about the Isthmian games that started in Greece years ago and maybe a reference to the Olympic games. I don’t know if they were going on when Paul was writing this.
I know the Isthmian games were, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself not be disqualified for the prize. Some translations translate this where Paul says, I strike a blow to my body. I buffet my body.
And then some translators or pastors say in America, we say we buffet our body. He’s talking about discipline here, disciplining his body. Why? So, he can win the prize.
And so, Paul is laser focused on the prize. Now what’s the prize? In the context of Philippians 3, it’s not salvation. You already have that.
He’s writing to Christians. The prize that he’s referring to is rewards. Rewards.
So, I don’t know if your school did this. I went to the small private Christian school and we didn’t have that many students. And man, we got awards for everything.
And at the end of the year, we had these assemblies and we got ribbons and certificates and all sorts of things, the awards assembly. And in one sense, the Bible says there’s going to be an awards assembly someday for believers. It’s called the Bema Seat Judgment.
It’s not a judgment for our salvation, but Paul says in Romans 14:12, we’re all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the rewards for the things we’ve done for him in the body. And so, Paul says, I press on toward the prize. I don’t know if you’ve ever gave much thought or have given much thought to what it must be like someday.
This is, you know, we’re already going to go to heaven. We already have our entrance ticket to heaven through what Jesus has done. But we’re going to have to stand and we’re going to have to give an account of our time, talent, and treasure to Jesus.
I’ve stood before a judge once in my lifetime and I was 19 years old and involved in an assault and battery. I was the battered one, by the way, not the assaulting one. Had to stand before a judge and man, I was 19 and I was nervous.
The 3 C’s of our Eternal Rewards
I wonder what it’s going to be like to stand before Jesus and give an account. And so, Paul says, I’m focused on the prize and I’m disciplining my spiritual walk so that someday I’ll win the prize. So, what are these prizes? What are these rewards? And we’re going to wrap this up in just five minutes here.
1. Commendation
So, three C letters. First one is commendation. What is the prize? Commendation.
Matthew chapter 25, verse 23, Jesus says, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the presence of the Lord. Wouldn’t you like to hear those words from Jesus someday? Words of commendation. You’ve been faithful.
None of us are perfect, but you’ve been faithful and well done, my servant. That was, that was what Paul was looking forward to, the commendation of Jesus. So, words of commendation.
2. Crowns
The second part of the prize, our C letter is crowns. And the Bible says there’s five crowns, specific crowns that are mentioned in the Bible, rewards. Paul writes about it in 2nd Timothy chapter 4.
His last epistle, Paul’s ready to die. He writes his final words, for I’m already being poured out like a drink offering. The time for my departure is near.
I’ve fought the good fight. I’ve finished the race. I’ve kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me that day. And not only to me, but to all those who have longed for his appearing. And so, Paul refers to this crown of righteousness given to those who have been faithful, those that are anticipating and looking forward to Christ’s return someday, the blessed hope, return of Christ.
3. Being in the presence of Christ
So, it’s commendation, it’s crowns, but here’s the third one, the letter C, and I’m just going to say it’s the person of Christ. Is our reward. Genesis chapter 15, verse 1, where God’s calling Abraham to be the father of the Jewish nation, says to Abraham, do not be afraid, Abraham.
I am your shield, and I am your very great reward. I’m your reward. And someday our reward will be to see Jesus’ face to face.
I love that song that Fannie Crosby authored, and she wrote, you know, I don’t know, a thousand hymns, a thousand songs, from a young blind girl. And she talks about, writes about the very first face that I’m going to see in my life and remember is going to be the face of Jesus. We’ll see him face to face and he will be our reward and our prize.
Well, four principles of spiritual growth. Number one, don’t be content or satisfied with where you are in your spiritual journey. Secondly, be focused on God’s plan and purpose for your life.
God has a plan. He wants you to be more and more like Jesus and he has a specific plan of things that he has for you to accomplish for him. Number three, we need to let go of our past.
Those are gone. Those sins are under the blood of Christ to be remembered no more. And we need to look ahead with my focus on the prize.
Now, God always designed the church to grow in the context of community. And I’m so thankful that you’re here this morning because that indicates you have a desire to grow spiritually. But if I would encourage you to maybe take the next step, I would also say that one of the ways that we can grow, too, is in smaller groups and Bible studies.
And a lot of churches have small group programs. We’re not there yet. Maybe that’s something we need to think about in the future.
But in the meantime, we have lots of Bible studies and lots of opportunities for you to get together with other Christians and to grow through Sunday school classes, through Monday night Bible studies, through Beyond Awana, through a Wednesday night ladies Bible study, a Thursday afternoon Bible study, through men’s fellowship breakfast, ladies fellowship breakfast. Lots of opportunities to grow. If you’re not comfortable with any of that, I would strongly suggest, if you don’t have a prayer partner, take initiative and just get to know somebody and just say, hey, could we get together every now and then, maybe once a week and pray together? You can even do it, I mean, ideally in person, but certainly you could do that over the phone.
I’ve prayed with hundreds of people over the phone. I’ve learned when they call me and they have a need and they ask for prayer, a lot of times I say, well, let’s just pray right now. And so that’s going to help us in our Christian Walk, in our Christian journey to take steps of growth.
We’re going to close by listening to a song, and I keep coming across these songs that are written right out of the book of Philippians. And this is one by a group called Selah, and it’s talking about pressing on. And oftentimes there are times in our Christian life where we all face stuff that’s hard stuff.
And the easy thing to do is sometimes just to quit and to say, God doesn’t care and not continue on in our walk with God. The Boston Marathon is going to be run two weeks from tomorrow, and it’s 26.2 miles. There’s a place in the Boston Marathon in mile number 20; it’s called Newton’s Heartbreak Hill.
And it’s called Heartbreak Hill because you’ve gotten a mile number 20, you’re totally exhausted, and the next half mile is upgrade, uphill. And it’s either going to make or break you. The fact of the matter is in our Christian Walk, and we could, all of us could probably tell stories of disappointments and heartaches that we go through in life and sometimes wonder why, and what do we do when that happens? Well, we do what Paul says here.
We don’t quit, but we press on.