Pursue the Goal > Achieve the Reward

Briefly re-introduce self (no more than 3 min) // Open your Bibles to Philippians

Pray

Hook

In the fall of 1941 war raged across Europe and into parts of Africa. The Nazi led army had swept across Eastern Europe seizing many countries and forcing alliances with others; turning their force then to Western Europe invading Northern France, Norway, and even launching into Northern Africa. Men and women from surrounding nations fighting them on every front, America still debating how best to get involved if at all.

Enter Tommy MacPherson, a twenty year-old Scottish commando who two years earlier was finishing school with dreams of going to Oxford and becoming a businessman, but those dreams of a teenage boy were put on hold when at eighteen he as recruited to the army right out of school and placed in a special commandos unit. Late October MacPherson and there other commandos departed a submarine in canvas kayaks to scout some beaches in Northern Africa for an assault on a Nazi base. Following their scouting trip, however, the submarine which was to pick them up never arrived, after waiting two additional days with leaking Kayaks they returned to shore to make the trip on foot through enemy territory. Not far into their journey without food, water, or proper equipment their captain and lieutenant were captured. The day following MacPherson and his sole remaining ally were captured as well.

In the following months MacPherson was transferred between multiple prisoner of war camps where he tried to escape over five times. Finally he succeeded and escaped a war camp in Austria where he and another soldier escaped and lasted five days before they were caught again by a German patrol. Transferred to Poland MacPherson partnered with three other prisoners and again made an escape attempt and this time made it home, landing in Scotland November of 1943, just over two years since he had been captured in Egypt.

Not long after his return he was back to training, promoted to a Major and set to lead a three man team of resistance fighters helping slow and hinder the Nazis as they moved through France. After training all spring MacPherson and his team were ready and awaiting the right time and place to begin their garilla tactics, three men verses armies.

June 6th, The allied forces land on Normandy in Northern France, it is time. The Germans are quick to send their units from the South up North to respond, June 8th, MacPherson and his three man team parachute into Southern France, MacPherson in his kilt and Beret. Partnering with local resistance fighters, his three man team and five men from the area stop Panzer tank division after Panzer tank division from reaching the allies up North. Using trickery and strategy the eight men stop armies 15,000 plus, 200 tanks that were three days away took two weeks to arrive, far too late to stop the allied forces from taking Northern France.

Transition / Passage

But what does the bravery of a young Scotsman in World War Two have to do with us in Fayette County? Or even further removed, what does the courage of these soldiers have to do with the apostle Paul and the church of Philippi nearly two thousand prior? Good question… I’m glad you asked.

Let’s read Philippians 3:10 through 4:1.

Philippians 3:10–4:1 CSB

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things, Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

We’re picking up in the middle of a thought here - Paul is explaining how on paper he is the perfect Pharisee, which was a Jewish sect known for their strict observation of the law, but in light of Jesus all of that is meaningless, in light of Jesus all he did before his conversion is dust in comparison to the glory now afforded to him. Which leads him to this amazing deceleration, We see here Paul’s self-stated goal in life and ministry

Philippians 3:10–11 CSB

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Paul’s goal isn’t that he will go down in history as an apostle, that his letters will form a lot of the New Testament scripture, or even that his will be a pivotal player in establishing the Christian faith. His stated goal is that hw will know Jesus. That he will know the power of Jesus resurrection. That he will know and understand the suffering of Jesus Christ. That he will be made like, conformed to, Christ’s death… But what I love about Paul, he never pretends to be the smartest guy in the room.... he doesn’t even try and explain this, he just strait up is like, I’m assuming that somehow I’ll reach the resurrection… I don’t know how, I don’t need to know how… I just need to know Jesus.

Not only do we see Paul’s goal in life and ministry we see him declare where he is, he is very self aware here, he states that he has not yet achieved his goal (vs 12), but rather he says he “makes every effort to take hold of it.” Paul has not crossed the finish line, he’s still in the middle of the race, and he isn’t going to slow down, he isn’t going to give up, he isn’t going to coast - he is going to take the most of every opportunity - he is going to make every effort to achieve his goal. Every opportunity to gain more knowledge, to gather more experience, to be further conformed. If we look at the life and ministry of Paul, which we can do in great part through a study of the book of Acts, he did some crazy things, he took some massive risks, but by relying on God, Paul didn’t see those risks as that risks. I was trying to wrap my head around this a few weeks back and the image of high diving came to mind. Now World class high divers jump off a 27 meter platform, that's 89 feet if you like-me don’t understand the metric system. Now if I jumped 89 feet off a roof onto the ground… I’d break something… probably multiple somethings… but a trained diver diving 89 feet into a pool swims back to the steps after totally fine. while something, an 89 foot fall, is risky in some circumstances, with Christ that same act isn’t risky at all, just an awesome leap of faith resulting in God’s glory.

We see Paul’s goal. We see Paul’s self awareness of where he his, but then we also see his motivation for what leads him to pursue achieving his goal, “because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.” I love the way Paul said that - I have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Jesus has me and He is not letting go. I don’t know if you have ever been so caught up in something, so enthralled by something you just couldn't put it out of your mind, but that seems to be Paul’s position. And maybe that is the same of some of you here, perhaps you’re sitting there thinking YES PASTOR, Jesus took hold of me and I can do nothing less than want to know all I can of Him! But for others, you may be thinking - ok… so Jesus got me, awesome, yay… wow… so what? And if that’s you THATS OK - I’ve been there… a lot… but do one thing for me - think of why Jesus would want noting to do with you, be honest with yourself - look at the dark corners of your life you don’t want to look at, and then think, despite that… or better yet, because of that, Jesus loved me. Jesus saved me from myself. Jesus loves me. Jesus wants more for me. Jesus wants to change me. Jesus wants to see those corners not only brought to light, but clensed! Jesus wants me clean, shining, a beacon for him - regardless of that mess He has taken a hold of me. And then spend time thanking Him for that - spend time just praying thanks, and as we are greatful, as we think wow - Jesus took a hold of me… regardless of my past… shouldn’t that motivate us to want to work with Him for our future?!

Which leads us to one last insight before we get to some applications, we see Paul’s vision for the church , he wants them to “live up to whatever truth we have attained [and imitate me].” (16-17) Paul even echoes and expands on this idea in his letter to the church in Corinth where he says, “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1) There is a great truth and a great challenge here - and we will unpack these a bit more in the coming weeks, but first a truth a lot of us forget, we’re not all at the same place. Some of us have achieved more than others - and there is no shame on either end of the spectrum - so long as we’re still moving! Paul wants us to live up to the truths we have attained - so if you are new to this whole church thing and all you know is Jesus died for your sins and rose to life again proving his victory over death and Satan - and all you know is that you need to rejoice and worship - AWESOME do that, and in time you should grow more, you should learn more, and as God reveals more truths to you through scripture, prayer, study, and Sunday sermons like this - live up to those new truths. On the other end, maybe God has shown you the needs of those around you, and has called you to compassion, and opened your eyes to the hurt of your neighbors, how can you show the love of God to them? How can you speak not only to their felt needs, food, heat, shelter… but to their eternal needs, a savior - forgiveness, grace, mercy? Maybe you’re in the spectrum somewhere, you’ve been following God for a while and you are learning you need to go public with your faith and you want to be baptised, or you want to grow more intentionally with your faith and you want to be discipled by a more mature believer. How can you live up to the truth you have obtained, and with that comes the challenge; we need to seek to grow in truth. We are called to learn more and more truth as we pursue that same goal of Paul, to learn all we can about Jesus, his power, his death, his resurrection - His kingdom. We are called to be growing in knowledge, in Colossians Paul tells the church “For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” (Col 1:9) As a church leader I’m called to echo this prayer for you - and as we grow in that knowledge - we are then faced with the challenge to live accordingly to those new revelations, which will make us more and more like Christ - more and more perfect according to His example.

OK… lets come up for air…

We see in this passage Paul’s goal: To know Christ, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed in His death.

We see Paul’s motivation: Being taken hold of By Christ!

We see Paul’s vision for the church, that they will live up to whatever truth’s they’ve attained and continue to grow in truth as they learn more about God.

So how do we do this? How do we embrace Paul’s vision for the church and embrace His goal for life and ministry?

First: We need to be passionate. Lets look back at our Scottish WW2 Commando. Coming out of two years of axis captivity MacPherson could have argued to be discharged. He could have argued for more rest. He could have argued for a reprieve from pain, from travel, from war. But instead he heeded the call, he returned and did so in a manner to motivate and encourage others. He parachuted behind enemy lines wearing a kilt, you don’t do that unless you’re a little mad and a lot passionate. In his case passionate about freedom and stopping evil. While we don’t wage war on tanks and armies, we wage spiritual war and we need to be passionate about our side, God’s kingdom, taking ground from the enemy. In a way Paul too was going behind enemy lines, visiting various temples, markets, theatres, and the Areopagus to win ground for the kingdom through the war of words.

Second: We need to be trained. MacPherson didn’t survive two years in prisoner of war camps, being interrogated, tortured, and on the run by chance. He had been trained. He was recruited and trained to be a special commando, a fighter behind enemy lines with minimal support. A specialist. He had learned to hide, to scout, to analyze, and to act. But also to identify and stay within his limits. In the same way we need to be trained. As we grow in truth we are to live up to that truth and that is an element of training. We are to be trained to live in truth, to act in truth, to stay in truth; and that truth should be expanding. Paul himself declared he hadn’t arrived! But we need to be careful. We are not to walk around and attempt to discern truth for ourselves. We should seek it through proper training. I always laugh at the statement ‘there is no absolute truth’ for two reasons. 1) that statement is an absolute and 2) that is what truths are - absolute claims! That isn’t to say some truths change. I was once single - it would have been a lie to say I wasn’t. Then almost five years ago that truth changed, I got married, now the truth is I am married it would be a lie to say the opposite, even though the opposite was once true! But with God, those truths, those absolutes, are forever absolute. So we need to be trained in what is truth, and we need to be trained how to live accordingly within those truths.

Finally: We need to be equipped to live according to our training. Again looking at MacPherson and his commandos they were equipped for Gorilla warfare. While delaying the Nazi tanks they had anti-tank mines, plastic explosives, grenades, and other things they could use to make a team of 8 men appear like a full battalion. Paul was equipped with knowledge, confidence, and The Spirit, the same Spirit we have, and further we are promised in 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” We have everything we need, God’s power has given us everything we need for “life and godliness.” everything. We are equipped, we just now need to know how to use the equipment. How do we use our Bibles? How do we use our community? How do we use our knowledge? How do we use all God has given us for the sake of knowing Jesus and advancing His kingdom?

Conclusion:

We need to be passionate, we need to be motivated by a desire to see ourselves and others “know Him and the power of His resurection”. We need to be trained, “conformed to His death” seeking to be as perfect in Christ as we can be, reaching for what is ahead. And we need to be equipped, we need to have the tools in addition to the training. And we can be confident that God will gives the tools we need to fulfill the mission he has called us to.

While I was interviewing and learning about Fayette Community Church I was drawn by your mission or vision statement, “We exist to equip you for your next step towards Jesus… Whatever road you find yourself on.” While talking to you all I head a few times that we like to think of FCC as a “Next Steps Church” so as we look at this passage, and as I began to think about what our first sermon series may be that line kept coming to me, next steps. As I wrote this sermon that line kept coming to me, next steps. So next week we’re going to start a new series looking at next steps. We’re going to look at what Jesus calls his disciples, us, to be. We’re going to look at how we can become disciples, and what those next steps may be.

But this week, let me leave you with this question, and may you ponder this question over the next week as we prepare to launch into the question of what are your next steps. Where are you right now? Paul knew where he was, he hadn’t reached the goal, but he sensed he was close. He wasn’t always, he had to get there, where are you on your journey? Where are you right now? Are you still at the start or are you near the end? Where are you? And where do you want to go? Think about that some this week, pray about it, ask God to help you see where are you and where do you need to get to. Are you a young Christian learning to walk, or maybe you’re not even there, maybe you are still asking if this God, Jesus, Spirit thing is real… Or are you an experienced, mature, Christian ready to teach others how to run? Or are you somewhere in the gray, between the ends?

Takeaway

Pray