09 - A Position And A Possession 2012 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Philippians Series

Part 9

“A Position and a Possession”

Last time we looked at Paul’s strong denunciation of false teachers, calling them “dogs,” “evil workers,” and “the mutilation.” We also marveled at his inspiring devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ for whom he had “suffered the loss of all things.”

Now this time we’re going to observe a “position” and a “possession.” First, the position we enjoy:

3:9 “…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith:”

Salvation is largely a matter of one’s position. The unsaved man is without Christ, without God, and without hope (Eph.2:12). Conversely, the saved man is “found in Him.” There is no middle ground. You can’t have one foot in and one foot out. You are either in the position of being without Christ, or you are in the position of being “in Christ.”

The possession we enjoy is “not having my own righteousness…but that which is through faith in Christ.” The fastest path to failure is to try to achieve your own righteousness. It can’t be done. To settle the whole issue of the futility of such a thing, James said “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).

Is anyone alive who can say, “I’ve never broken even one of God’s commandments?” Romans 3:10 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” So the glorious possession we Christians have is a righteousness which is through faith in Christ!

Jesus lived a sinless life. He kept all of the commandments. From the moment He first drew breath until the moment He said, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit,” he did always those things that pleased the Father (Luke 23:46).

Then He laid down that sinless life as an atonement for our sin—to cancel the debt we had accumulated by our failure to produce behavior that God would accept. Literally, “He became sin for us Who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.5:21).

So we have a position to enjoy (found in Christ), and a possession to enjoy (righteousness by faith).

Next, Paul talks about how our salvation opens the door to knowing Jesus:

3:10 “…that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;”

Notice Paul’s single minded devotion—that I may know Him. In this one statement we have the secret to a holy life. That I may know Him.

No one can live a holy life without utter dedication to the life-purpose of knowing Christ.

We all have a master passion. For some it is money. For others it is fame. For others it is the family life they have envisioned since youth. Athletes burn to win a race, set a new record, and obtain a gold medal. Paul’s master passion was Christ.

He had met Him, now He wanted to know Him. There is all the difference in the world between meeting someone and knowing someone. To know someone really well requires genuine interest, spending quality time with them, and making the time to do so.

Next, Paul tells us what he hopes for:

3:11 “…if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

The phrase “if, by any means, I may attain” is not to be understood as if he doubted it, which would be inconsistent with his firm conviction that nothing should separate him from the love of God, and with his full assurance of faith in Jesus Christ.

Rather, it denotes the various afflictions and great tribulations a believer must pass before he comes to it. In the Book of Acts we find Paul, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:20-22).

He next admits to not having yet arrived:

3:12 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

The phrase “lay hold of” comes from a powerful Greek word meaning “to seize tight hold of, arrest, catch, capture.” We Christians have all been “laid hold of” by God. He captured us by grace, seized tight hold of us by mercy, and arrested us for a Divine purpose.

Having been laid hold of by God, we are now to reciprocate and make it our life’s ambition to lay hold of, capture, seize tight hold of that which was in God’s mind when He laid hold of us!

Paul now tells us what we must do to succeed:

3:13 “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,”

Paul used the memorable phrase “this one thing I do.” D.L. Moody used to say, “It is better to say, ‘This one thing I do,’ than to say, ‘These forty things I dabble with.’”

Very few have had as much to “forget” as Paul. He openly admitted: “You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it” (Gal.1:13).

“I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished” (Acts 22:4-5).

But now Paul says that if you’re going to succeed at “laying hold of” God’s purpose for your life, you’re going to have to put some things behind you and refuse to live in the regrets and mistakes of your past.

You can’t reach for what’s ahead if you can’t first succeed at forgetting what’s behind. The word “forget” doesn’t mean to develop spiritual amnesia; it means to purposely put something out of your mind. The past is the past because it’s passed.

Once you’ve done some forgetting, you can do some pressing. He says next:

3:14 “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Throughout this whole passage we see Paul as a man running a race. His head is thrust forward, his expression is set in fiercely determined lines, his body is straining toward the goal, his every nerve is tense, his breath is coming in gasps, and his whole being is stretched to the utmost.

What was the prize he so zealously sought? “The high calling of God,” or “the high call of God,” or “the calling on high.” Paul wanted to be a way-out-front winner. He didn’t want to barely drag across the finish line. He wanted to break the tape running full steam ahead!

Now he turns his attention from an autobiographical stance to focusing on us, the church:

3:15-16 “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

As I think and view things, says Paul, so should you also as God’s church. We are not to be spectators on the sidelines. We are all to be in the same game pushing the same gospel football downfield.

And not all of the Philippians were “mature.” Some were “otherwise minded.” Many of Paul’s contemporaries did not see him as the hero we do. They thought he was a dangerous fanatic. Paul assured them that if they disagreed, God would one day reveal the same thing to them.

3:17 “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. Take me as your model, Paul says. And also model yourselves after other men pursuing the same spiritual goals I am. This was not egotism. The Holy Spirit was guiding Paul’s pen. There was no better human example than Paul in that day.

He was the ideal missionary, pastor, Bible teacher, and practitioner of the faith. True humility does not consist in depreciating our attainments as though they are inferior when they may be of a very high order.

To pretend we can’t do something we can do is not humility, but hypocrisy. Humility is shown in acknowledging what God has done in our lives and giving Him the glory and praise.

Finally, Paul weeps over false brethren:

3:18-19 “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.”

Note his heart of sadness over the enemies of the gospel. Paul wept, “with cries and tears” for the enemies of Christ as much as he did for those that fell under their spell. Their end would be destruction. They were on the way to a Christless eternity. The thought of where they were going broke his heart.

Finally, the chapter closes on a glorious note!

3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”