SLIDES

Pressing On Toward the Goal Philippians 3:11-14

 Introduction

Dwight Pentecost tells the story that while in London, he wanted to visit several art museums so he could see some of the famous paintings he had become familiar with through books of art. He thought it was a delightful experience to walk through the corridors of some of the art museums. He was particularly struck with one painting. He described the painting like this. “Two chariots were racing at breakneck speed. Their wheels were just a blur of motion. The charioteers, with whip in hand, were lashing their horses to the expenditure of every ounce of energy they had. Intensity was written in their eyes, in their faces, in the set of their bodies. The horses were straining themselves, it seemed, to the point of collapse. Their eyes wild, their nostrils distended, they gulped great breaths of air as they pressed toward the goal. With the goal before them, they were giving themselves unreservedly to the race. Those who had not so extended themselves had been left behind and were an insignificant part of the background of the painting. The attention of the viewer was focused upon the two charioteers who strained toward the goal.”

Paul may have had something like that in mind when he wrote Philippians 3:11-14.

11  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12  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.

The Apostle Paul was aged and had experienced many difficult times and circumstances. Even though he was aged and tired, he still wanted to grow spiritually and mature in the Christ. He even compared maturing in Christ to a foot race in the Olympic Games. However, he knew that while he was on this earth, he would never attain total spiritual maturity. This would not occur until he came into the presence of Jesus either at the rapture or death. Today we are going to look at several inspiring goals that Paul reached for until the day he was to see Jesus face to face.  We are going to discuss these goals today and how we can implement them into our daily lives. 

A. Believers should desire for the Rapture to occur during their lifetime. (11)

Philippians 3:11 “in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

If one accepts the translation from the NASB95, then it appears that Paul is saying that his being resurrected is directly related to him accomplishing his three goals in verse 10 of knowing Christ intimately, experiencing His resurrected power, and experiencing the fellowship of His suffering.  If he does not meet these goals, then he may not be resurrected. Therefore, being resurrected is contingent on his works. We know that is not scriptural. We know that when we trusted Christ as our Savior that bodily resurrection is guaranteed at the Rapture of the church.

Therefore, there must be another translation that is doctrinally acceptable. I counted eleven different translations of the phrase "in order that.” I like “if so be” which would translate something like “If so be I might attain the resurrection from the dead. Also “somehow” might also work which would translate, Somehow I might attain the resurrection from the dead. When we learn exactly what resurrection he is referring to, it then makes the verse also clearer. Some think there is only one resurrection, but there are several.

The Greek word translated resurrection is found only one time in the New Testament and that is in this verse. It is not the ordinary word for resurrection. It literally means is “out resurrection.”  Here it probably refers to separating the righteous, alive or dead, from the unrighteous dead at the Rapture of the church.  There will be several resurrections during the end times, but Paul here is referring here to a the resurrection which will be out from among the dead before the Tribulation Period begins. This resurrection of the righteous as distinguished from the resurrection of the wicked.

One important point is that the Rapture is not an event that Christians need to strive to attain. All Christians, living and dead, will be caught up when it occurs and receive a new resurrected body. Paul probably hoped that he would live to experience the Rapture before he died.

The word attain means to reach a goal. Paul's goal was to experience the Rapture during his lifetime while he was still alive. But Paul’s goal was not reached but Paul’s dead body will be out-resurrected.

Is one of your goals to be out-resurrected before you die? Are you anticipating the Rapture in your lifetime? I know some of you are thinking that if it’s going to happen, it better hurry up because I don’t have much time left. We all would be blessed if it happened during our life time.

B. Believers should strive daily to continue to mature as Christians (12)

Philippians 3:12-13  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,

We need to determine what Paul has not obtained.  The Greek Text does not have a direct object, so one has to be supplied from the context. It just says “I have not obtained.” Some translations do not supply a direct object and translate it exactly that way.  “Not that I have already obtained...” The NKJV translates it that way. So, if one did supply a direct object, it should not be the word it as the NASB95 translates it.  The word it is singular and there is no antecedent that is singular. The New Living Translation translates it “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things.” The NIV translates this verse “Not that I have already attained all this.” I’m going to translate it “I don't mean to say that I have already achieved them.” We see from these translations that the direct object, if one supplies one, is plural not singular. So, what might be the antecedent for the plural direct object. Does anyone have any suggestions? I think what Paul is referring to is the three goals found in verse 10 of knowing Christ intimately, of experiencing His resurrected power, and of experiencing the fellowship of His suffering.”

Paul said he had not obtained the three goals he stated in verse 10. He had not achieved the fulfillment of his goals listed in verse 10. He had not accomplished his stated goals. He was still working in them. The second part of that verse, “or have already become perfect” helps to clarify the first part of the verse pertaining to Paul not accomplishing the three goals he had set for himself.  Paul’s salvation experience had taken place about 30 years before he wrote to the Philippians. He had won many spiritual battles in that time. He had grown much in those years, but he candidly confessed he had not obtained all this, nor was he yet made perfect nor was he completely mature spirituality (v. 12). He still had more spiritual heights to climb.  It was not time to relax.

In spite of all that he had learned, done, and experienced he had not yet reached the three goals. He was saying that I am not yet mature or perfect.” By the word “perfect” Paul means “completely mature.”

I want to take a minute and explain how the three goals he had set for himself were to be accomplished.  It takes time for a new born baby to mature to adulthood. As a matter of fact, it takes years for a child to reach maturity. It’s no different in the Christian life. Spiritual maturity takes time. It may take years of growing in Christ.

It takes very little time to birth a baby as compared to the remainder of the life he or she will live. Being born again in the spiritual realm happens instantaneously when one trusts in Christ as their Savior.  The act of being born again is called justification. To be justified or declared righteous in a courtroom concept, so that to justify means that God gives a verdict of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.  We are not righteous but are declared righteous because of the death of Jesus. Only God is righteous. One is automatically declared righteous or announced to be declared righteous when they trust in Christ as their Savior.  When a baby is born, someone announces to the family that a baby has been born.

Like I said, justification or being declared righteous is something that occurs instantaneously when one trusts in Christ as their Savior. After a baby is born, they begin a life long journey of maturing physically and mentally. When an unbeliever is born again by trusting in Christ as their Savoir, they begin a lifelong process of spiritually maturity called sanctification. The word sanctify basically means to set apart. It has the same root as the words saint and holy. A believer who is on the journey of being sanctified can also said to being made holy. The word sanctify or holy means to be set apart. As one is being made holy or sanctified day by day, one is being set apart from sin and Satan to being set apart to God. This is called progressive sanctification. This is commonly called growing in Christ.

Oswald Chambers said, “Sanctification means intense concentration on God’s point of view. It means every power of body, soul, and spirit is chained and kept for God’s purpose only. It will cause an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Are we prepared for God to do all in us that He separated us for? The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized its meaning from God’s standpoint. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Jesus has prayed that we might be one with Him as He is one with the Father. The one and only characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a person is a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ and freedom from everything that is unlike Him.”

Sin and Satan  ------------------------------------------------------- God

On a scale of one to ten, Sin and Satan being a one and God being ten, how much have you grown spiritually since you were saved? Some of us who were save 50 or 60 years should be way past the middle mark, but are we? We have work to do? If Paul at the end of his life still had not reached maturity in Jesus, neither have we. As Paul reminded the saints in Philippi that there must never be a stalemate in their spiritual growth, we should be reminded of that daily. We cannot relax about our growing in Christ. As we shall see now, we need to press on to maturity.

In verse 13 we see that Paul Just like he had not reached full maturity in Christ, he still had not taken hold of that which Christ has taken hold of him. What exactly was that? It’s his spiritual maturity. He said since Christ laid hold of me to be spiritually mature and I must lay hold of it myself and continue to move in that direction. Jesus laid hold of us to be spiritually mature and we must lay hold of it and move in that direction.

Paul still sinned and still made mistakes even after he was saved on the Road to Damascus, but he was not going to let that deter him from pressing on to maturity in Christ and continuing to do the ministry God had called him to do. He was going to disregard the sin and mistakes that had happened in the past and put out of mind. After all, could not change any of that. All that could be done was to confess his sins and repent. After doing that, he was moving on to maturity and continuing to do the ministry God had called him to do. First Corinthians and Hebrews gives us some insight into what maturity in Christ is.

1 Corinthians 2:6 “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;”

Here Paul is saying that Christian wisdom is godly wisdom not the wisdom of man. Every day we see in one form or another the wisdom of man played out that is contrary to God’s Word. So from this verse we see that as a Christian matures in his or her faith, he or she will display wisdom from God not the world’s wisdom.

Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

As a person goes through the stages of maturity from a baby to an adult, he or she is able to eat different kinds of food. It’s not until a person gets a good set of teeth and reaches a certain age that they can eat meat. In the Christian life, it is the mature Christian who continues to study the Word of God and apply it to their lives constantly. By continuing to apply the Word of God to one’s life, one’s ability to discern good and evil and make godly decisions improves.

He also was going to reach forward to what lay ahead. Reaching forward is an interesting phrase. Most of you have seen individuals who are participating in a track event lean forward when they cross the finish line to win the race , break a time record, or both. Here it means one is to lean forward or strain toward what is ahead during the entire race.

If one continues to study God’s word and then apples what one learns to their daily life, then one will display Christian maturity by gaining godly wisdom and being able to make godly decisions. All of us here have sinned more that we would ever want to admit to each other and have made our share of mistakes since trusting Christ as our Savior. It would behoove us to take Paul’s example forgetting the past and moving on. If there is unconfessed sin, we need to confess it. If one needs to repent about something, then repent.

There are at least four things that believers must consider as one grows to spiritual maturity. If these four things are not accomplished, the believer will not grow in Christ and will just tread water. 

1. Studying God’s Word consistently and deeply

2, Applying the God’s Word to one’s life

3. Confession of sin

4. Repentance

Again, I want to emphasize that if the four things I just listed are not consistently practiced as part of one’s daily life, one will not and cannot move on to maturity. One will just be treading water and maybe miss blessings and rewards that were possible for that person to have. As one matures as a Christian, he or she is better equipped to accomplish the goal or the heavenly calling that God has given them.

In verse 12 Paul used the metaphor of reaching forward and in verse 13 he uses the metaphor of pressing on. He is pressing on to complete the goal that God has given him with the result that he will receive the prize that we will discuss in just a few minutes. Pressing on means that Paul was pressing ahead accomplish the goal God had given him with the result of him attaining the prize. Pressing on means to move rapidly and decisively toward an object. There was a young adult who was trained and had experience as a large backhoe operator.   As he was working moving dirt for a bridge to be built, he came across a chest that had valuables in it. He reburied the chest, and moved to another location to move dirt. That night he returned to retrieve the chest. He never returned to work. He had moved rapidly and decisively to retrieve the chest which was his goal. The result of accomplishing his goal of retrieving the chest resulted in him having many valuables that were in the chest.

Paul moved rapidly and decisively toward accomplishing the goal that God had given him which would result in winning the prize. The word prize in used in the context of 1Cor. 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.” The race he is referring to is a foot race like in the Olympics of that day. The goal in the Olympic race was to win the footrace so that they would receive the prize of a wreath of wild olive or celery branches given to the winner of the race. Paul’s prize would not be a wreath of wild olive or celery branch, but an eternal reward given to him at the Judgement Seat of Christ when believers in Jesus will be rewarded or not rewarded for their ministry while on the earth. Motive as we have talked about before also comes in to play concerning a reward.

The upward call in this verse is referring to Paul’s heavenly calling. It is not a calling from man but from God. Paul received this heavenly calling from Jesus on the road to Damascus. In Acts 9:15-16 we find Paul’s heavenly calling as explained to Ananias.

“But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Paul’s goal was to accomplish the upward call or his heavenly calling that we just read in Acts 9:15-16. The result of accomplishing the heavenly calling God had given him would be rewards at the Judgement Seat of Christ.

The prepositional phrase “in Christ Jesus” shows the unity of the Father with the Son. Paul may have put this phrase in the verse to stress to the Philippians the importance of unity among the Tri-unity that they should be displaying within their congregation.

C. Application

There are three important principles found in today’s lesson.

1.  We have not attained spiritual maturity in our Christian
          experience.

Yes, we have been justified or declared righteous when we trusted in Jesus as Savior, but our sanctification is not complete.  Even though some of us are spiritually farther along than others, we all have plenty of maturing to accomplish in Christ because perfection is not possible in this life. We are frail, fallen, feeble humans; and we will continue in this state until our death. Not only are we imperfect, but so is everyone around us. The best, most moral, most Christlike person who has ever lived is still a wicked sinner saved by grace, unable to be compared to the perfect standard of holiness we see in Christ.

2.  Do not look back to previous experiences or failures.

The past is over so leave it behind. There is absolutely nothing you can do to change it. Put it out of your mind. A runner who lost a race and not change the outcome. We must not bask in our old accomplishments nor pout over old defeats. These keep up from advancing boldly today and into the future. An runner should not worry about the last race but must consecrate on winning the race today.

3.   Keep looking and moving forward toward the goal of Christian maturity.

Since the past is behind us and we cannot change it, let’s look at today and into the future. We all have marching orders from the LORD. Do you know what your marching orders are?

To know God’s will for the remainder of your life:

A. Spend more time in Bible study so God can speak to you and spend more time in prayer so you can talk to God.

B. Go through the Experiencing God workbook by Henry Blackaby. If you have already gone through it once, go through it again. It is a great tool in learning how to know the will of God for the reminder of your life.

C. Focus on your spiritual gifts. If you know what your spiritual gift(s) is/are review them. If you do not know what your spiritual gifts are, I will get you a spiritual evaluation gifts test. It takes about 30 minutes to take it and will inform you what your spiritual gifts are.

Through prayer, Bible study, circumstances, and believers, God will show you how and where to get involved.

If earthly athletes give their all for temporal awards, how much more should we who are recipients of a heavenly call push ourselves to receive a heavenly reward 

SELAH

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