Pressing Towards the Mark!
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 17 viewsNotes
Transcript
Text: Phil 3:10-14
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not 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. Brethren, 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, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
I want to go back and grab one verse previously in the text and then deal with the main thought of the text:
Verse 1
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Two points from this scripture.
Paul tells the church at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord.
He spins this in a way to suggest that “whatever happens rejoice in the Lord.” To rejoice means to be glad or to be full of joy. In the broader sense it also means to be well or to thrive.
I think that is a good mindset to adopted this year. That whatever happens rejoice in the Lord, whatever happens be glad in the Lord (count your blessings), whatever happens be full of joy (for the joy of the Lord is our strength), if we find ourselves running low on joy, call on the name of the Lord, “Joy” is the fruit of the Spirit, in the natural fruit can go bad if not taken care of properly. You may need to increase your prayer life, get some more word in you to get more joy.
Lastly, be well in the Lord, that is the only way you can be, you cannot be well out of the LORD. And finally, thrive in the Lord! When you are in the Lord He will bless you, he will make ways for you, he will open doors for you......He will cause you to THRIVE!!! YOU WILL FIND SUCCESS.....BUT IT ONLY COMES IN THE LORD!
Paul then begins to discourse about the priceless value of knowing Christ.
Paul says in verse 3 and I quote from the NLT “We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort” I don’t rely on my on holiness, I rely on the holiness the Christ bestows upon me. I don’t rely on my own self-righteousness, I rely on the righteousness that Christ has bestowed upon me when he made me right by dying on the cross and shedding his blood for the remission of my sins.
Paul then says, that if anyone could brag about being someone or about human effort it was him. He begins to list all of his accomplishments and his spiritual pedigree.
But in verse 7 Paul says “what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” In other-words, I thought those things were valuable, but they are worthless because of what Christ has done for me.
Look hard at verse 8:
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
We must come to a realization that everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value. Infinite means without end, priceless, something that money can’t pay for. And KNOWING CHRIST IS SOMETHING THAT IS PRICELESS......I MEAN REALLY KNOWING HIM. NOT KNOWING OF HIM, NOT HEARING ABOUT HIM, BUT ACTUALLY KNOWING HIM AND HAVING AN ACTUALLY RELATIONSHIP, AND BEING FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT, AND KNOWING HIS WORD, AND BEING REAL!!!!
In order to do that Paul gives us a key to reaching this plateau “I count all things but loss”.......you need to discard everything else and count it as dung, count it as garbage so that you can gain Christ. AND THIS IS THE CHALLENGE IN THE NEW YEAR. ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE UP ALL TO FOLLOW CHRIST?
Let’s skip to verse 10:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Paul says I want to know Him. See......that’s the problem with some of us....we really think we know Him. But there is so much to God and so many levels in God, and God is so vast and beyond your finite mind that Paul himself.......THE ONE WHO WROTE OVER HALF OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.....THE ONE WHO HAS HAD REVELATIONS, THE ONE WHO HAS HEALED MANY, PREACHED TO MANY, PERFORMED SIGNS AND WONDERS AND HE HIMSELF STILL SAYS........”I WANT TO KNOW CHRIST, AND EXPERIENCE THE MIGHTY POWER THAT RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD” and I quote the NLT.
Is there anyone in here that wants to know Christ like Paul does. He had an intense desire to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that raised Christ from the dead!
Anybody in here want to experience THE POWER THAT RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD......IF YOU DO THEN SHOUT HALLELUJAH!!!
BUT IN ORDER TO KNOW CHRIST AND IN ORDER TO EXPERIENCE THE MIGHTY POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION......you have to suffer with him and share in his death. Paul is not talking about actually being crucified like Jesus did, but to crucify our flesh and to die to self, and to die to sin! This strong type of devotion may just lead to you having to denounce God to live or cling to Jesus and die.
Paul then says “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
In chess there is what is called the opening, the middle game, and then the end-game. I play for the end game, when there are very few pieces on the board. Some people have played for the opening, they were on fire when they were first saved but then backslid. There were people who played and lost in the middle game, they were in church for years, and then they gave up and backslid into the world. And there are those of us who are playing for the endgame, not a whole lot of us left.
In chess, once you reach the end-game, there are not a lot of pieces on the board. And you have to think and strategize because your ultimate goal is to win.
Our ultimate goal is to attain unto the resurrection of the dead. All that we are doing, the singing, the shouting, the witnessing, the reading, all of it we do and we must keep in mind that we have to make the rapture! We have to attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Just tell someone “I’ve GOT TO MAKE THE RAPTURE!!!!”
Not 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.
Paul admits that even when he was obeying the law, he wasn’t perfect, and even after being saved and receiving the Holy Ghost he is still not perfect. Are there any imperfect people in here?
Paul says I haven’t reached perfection.
BUT I PRESS!!! There is the tension in the text. It isn’t easy, there is some resistance and there will be some struggle, but you got to PRESS!!! If you have ever lifted weights, after you have lifted and got some reps in, you get tired, you feel like you have no strength, but when you have a spotter, the spotter tells you.....COME ON ONE MORE REP.......YOU CAN DO IT.....DON’T GIVE UP......PUSH!!!!! PRESS......GET THE WEIGHT UP!!!!
AND YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A SPOTTER THIS MORNING AND HIS NAME IS JESUS.....AND HE KNOWS YOU’RE TIRED, HE KNOWS YOU HAVE LITTLE STRENGTH, HE SEES THE URGENCY.....AND HE SAYS PUSH.......PRESS!!!! AND IF YOU CAN’T PRESS......A SPOTTER WILL TAKE THE WEIGHT AND LIFT THE WEIGHT OFF OF YOU!!!
AND I HEAR THE HOLY GHOST SAY THAT THIS YEAR.....I’M GETTING READY TO RELEASE AND LIFT THE WEIGHT OFF OF YOU, I’M NOT GOING TO ALLOW THE WEIGHT TO KILL YOU, I’M NOT GOING TO ALLOW THE WEIGHT TO DESTROY YOU, I’M NOT GOING TO ALLOW THE WEIGHT TO CAUSE YOU TO GIVE UP, BEFORE THAT HAPPENS......THERE WILL BE A RELEASE!!!
You’re not perfect, BUT PRESS ON, YOU MAY FALL DOWN......BUT KEEP PRESSING, YOU MAY WANT TO GIVE UP, BUT KEEP PRESSING!!!!
I gotta close now, but listen to what Paul is saying:
Brethren, 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,
This is a new year, we need to focus on this one thing: Paul says forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.
The devil wants to keep you chained to your past. That’s why you can’t really forgive, that’s why you can’t move on, that’s why you keep relapsing. You need to die to whatever it is that has you captive and don’t go back to it no more!
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Then you’ve got to PRESS, you’ve got to press on to reach the end. You’ve got to press on to reach the end of the race. And you can’t let nobody discourage you, you can’t let nobody disqualify you.
We got to press to receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. We’ve got to press toward the mark......that means every year, everyday, WE SHOULD BE GETTING CLOSER TO THE PRIZE.
I said on New Years, after 12:00am that we are a year closer to the return of Jesus. We are getting closer to the prize.
So now the question is “what is the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?”
Paul answers that in verse 20-21:
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Paul says we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting........anybody eagerly waiting.....or have you gotten so busy with life that you have forgot that Jesus is coming?
But when you are a true citizen of heaven you eagerly await his return as our Savior. How is the Lord going to save us?
He will take our vile body, our weak mortal bodies, some of us will be dead by then maybe, or we may be alive, but he’s going to change our vile bodies (Hallelujah) and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same POWER with which he will bring everything under his control.
Everything may seem out of control right now....but when Jesus comes back......HIS GOING TO BRING EVERYTHING UNDER HIS CONTROL.......THE DEVIL MAY BE ACTING OUT NOW.....BUT HE IS GOING TO BRING EVERYTHING UNDER HIS CONTROL! THE WORLD IS OUT OF CONTROL......BUT JESUS IS GOING TO BRING EVERYTHING UNDER HIS CONTROL!!!!