Paul's Focus on Where He is Going?

Paul's Focus on Where He is Going?

Philippians 3:12-16

By Sean Kelly

Our study in Philippians continuing chapter three this morning. I titled this "Paul's focus on where he is going". You'll see why I titled it that way. It's a little bit different title for me.

Usually I'm not as. Usually I'm more straightforward in my title, but that's okay. I also, by the way, I know there's been lines on the paper last couple of weeks.

I found the cleaning center setting on my printer, so I think I may have fixed it for next week. Hopefully next week there won't be lines on the paper and it will look nice again. I didn't realize my printer even had a cleaning setting, but I found maintenance.

There's like five different things I can clean on there, so we'll get it figured out. Test run will be Wednesday, so if you're here Wednesday, I'm going to be teaching Wednesday night. Hopefully that doesn't mean you won't come, but hopefully you will come.

You are coming. Anyway, let's go ahead and get started. Matthew, would you pray for us this morning and finally become part of your.

I kind of changed my mind on our reading this morning. Let's go ahead and take our Bibles. If you have them, turn to Philippians three, and we're going to read from the beginning of the chapter through verse 16, because I think the context is important here.

It will remind us of where we've been, and it'll help us understand where we're going here. So, Philippians, chapter three, verses one through 16. Nathan, you're going to read us that for us.

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same thing to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of mutilation.

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcised the 8th day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But then, for what things were gained to me? These I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, by faith that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, which conform to his death. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained 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.

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, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 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. Okay, so, kind of reviewing where we've been in chapter three, Paul talks about having confidence in the flesh, that we should not have our confidence in the flesh.

Verse three says, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So he talked about the difference in trusting in God, rejoicing in God, or having confidence in our flesh. Then Paul in verse four starts talking about it.

If anyone could have confidence in the flesh, it's him. And he goes through all the religious things that he did as a Jew, how he met every standard the Jews had set for someone who would be righteous before God. Every standard the Jews set to be someone who would be a Jew of Jews, kind of the best of the best.

And Paul says he met those things. But then in verse eight, he says, what things were gained to me, these religious things, these he counted loss for Christ. That he understands that his righteousness is not in what he's done, it's in what Christ has done for him.

And he goes through in verse eight talking about that his goal is to know Jesus Christ as Lord. His goal is to focus on those things. He understands that his righteousness is from God and that he wants to conform to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

That's where he left at verse eleven. So Paul and I have this, a paragraph here you can read along with me. But Paul, having explained why he does not trust in the human accomplishments in his life, goes on to talk about what his focus is.

Since his righteousness is secure in Christ, Paul does not rest on his laurels. But continues to pursue holiness and righteousness in his actions. For Paul, the christian life is a life of focus and pursuit as he sets this example for us.

So that's what we're going to look at today. Now that we know that his righteousness is in Christ. He can't do anything religious here.

He can't do anything to earn his own righteousness. One argument could come up to say, hey, we're already righteous in Christ. Who cares what we do? And Paul's saying, no, there's a goal here because I am righteous in Christ.

I'm looking forward to doing something. I'm looking forward to moving in this direction. I'm trying to my best to do the things God wants me to do because of my righteousness in Christ.

And so that's what he's trying to, I think, tell us in this section of the passage here. So, looking at Philippians 312, he writes, not that I have already attained, or I'm already perfected by press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. So I look at this as Paul's motivation here.

It goes back a little bit to verse eleven. Verse eleven says, but by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, attain to the resurrection of the dead. And then what does that mean, to attain to the resurrection of dead? Well, when we look in verse twelve, he says, he's not really attained this, so we know that he's not attained his goal.

And I think he has a couple of goals in here. Goal number one is to attain from the resurrection of the dead. And this idea here is being conformed to the perfect state that God will give us at our resurrection.

When either Christ comes back and we're caught up in the air with him, or after we die, when he returns and our bodies and spirits are united, there's going to be a resurrection there, and that resurrection state is going to be a perfect state. It's going to be a sinless state. It's going to be a state where we're free to serve God in all holiness and righteousness.

And Paul says, that's what I'm attaining to. That's what I'm trying to reach. That's my goal.

I want to be like that now on earth. And here he says, I haven't got there yet. I have not yet attained.

So my goal is to be living my life in the same way I'm going to be living it during the resurrection. When I'm with God for eternity, I want to live my life that way first. John three, two and three is a verse that talks about this.

So I have a reader for that. Mac, go ahead. This is the attitude we ought to have.

It talks about that we're children of God, but we don't know what we're going to be in the resurrection when Christ returns. The one thing we do know is that we're going to be like him. That's how we're going to not only look, that's not only how our buys are going to be, but we're going to be like him in righteousness.

We're going to be like him in holiness. We're going to be like him in the way we live. We're going to be serving and honoring and worshiping God with all our being in perfection.

And then in verse three, it talks about everyone who has this hope in him. If you have that hope, if you're saved and you know that someday you're going to be with Christ and that someday he's going to resurrect your body, someday he's going to make you like him. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself.

So yes, someday we're going to be like that, but we ought to be working towards that in our life. That ought to be our goal, that we're pure in our life, that we're living more and more like Christ each day. And it says, just as he is pure.

So goal number one is to attain to the resurrection of the dead. Goal number two, he says, not that I've already attained or am already perfected. So goal number two is to be perfected.

And this word perfected is not perfect perfect. It's complete, it's mature. It's the idea of whole that you're wholeheartedly and holy for God and doing what God wants you to do.

Two Timothy 316 17 uses the same word. Do you have another reader? Go ahead, Josiah. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof or correction or instruction.

The man of God may complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So we could go through verse 16 a lot to talk about what scripture does for us. As God breathed it does these four things here.

Verse 17 says that it's there so that the man of God may be complete, he may be mature, he may be whole, and then also thoroughly equipped for every good work. So the idea of being perfected is this idea of personal holiness in our life that we're living for God, that we're doing good works for God that we're serving him in every way possible. And Paul's goal is to live like he's going to be when he's resurrected, but it's also to live a mature, complete, perfect life.

And so Paul says, I've not already attained that I'm not already perfected. That's still something he's working towards. This is still a goal of his.

So while he has righteousness in Christ, as righteousness is solely from what Christ has done, he says, in my life, I want to live worthy of that. I want to live in a way that reflects the righteousness that Christ has given me. And I know that once I get to heaven, I'm going to be able to do that perfectly.

But right now I'm aiming for that. That's my goal. I'm working my way up there.

So he's not already perfected, but he's pressing on. And that's what the next thing he says by press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. So Paul is working to press on.

Here, this word press on means to seek after, to pursue, to strive after. So his focus is on being the person that God wants him to be. It's maturing in holiness.

He wants to not stay where he's at in his christian life. He wants to grow. He wants to be continuing to be more and more like Christ.

Let's look at a couple of verses here. First Corinthians 924. Olivia, go ahead.

All run. But one receives the pride. Run in such a way that you may obtain.

Paul oftentimes likens the christian life to a race. And here, this is what he's doing in first Corinthians. And he talks about in a race, there's one person that wins, there's the winner, and the next guy is the first loser.

Right? That kind of idea. And I'm a big fan of the Olympics. I like Olympics.

I don't like the running one so much. I like all the weird sports in the Winter Olympics. I like curling.

I think it's awesome. It's not as weird anymore, but I started liking it when it was still weird. I like kind of the off sports, but I understand the running.

I'll watch it. And there might be teams out there that just want a medal, but teams are out there. They want to win the gold, and they feel like they can win the gold medal.

And you have to do that by winning the race. If you don't win the race, you don't get the gold medal here. Paul's equating this to the christian life.

He says, run in a way that you might obtain it. It's not just like, well, I'll just half-heartedly go out there and do as good as I can. And whatever happens, happens.

If you're running a race, you're trying to win it. And Paul says, run the christian life like you're trying to win it. There's a focus, there's an energy expended in it.

There's just an effort put forth to run the christian race the way God wants us to. And that's what Paul is saying here. Let's look at another passage first.

Colossians 129. We also like to read. Jonathan, go ahead.

To this end, I also labor striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. So again, he's talking in these terms of putting effort. To this end, I labor.

I kind of sit back and let God work in me. And whatever he does, he does. And whatever he doesn't do, he doesn't do.

And I'm fine. No, he's laboring. He's working to do what God wants to do.

And then he says, striving. It's not just I'll get up and kind of do what I can, but I'm not going to change my routine to do things for God. No, he's striving.

He's putting effort forth. He's working at it according to working, which he works in me mightily. So it's God working in him, but he's putting the effort.

He's laboring. He's striving for the christian life. So he's pressing on.

He's seeking after he's pursuing. He's striving after these goals. And Paul's motivation here, this last part of the verse says that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me to lay hold of.

Paul is pursuing something specific here. He's trying to catch something. That's the idea of what this word means.

And what he's trying to catch is what Christ laid hold of him. So Paul's goal in life is the same goal that Christ had in saving him. Whatever Christ's goal is in saving Paul is what Paul's pursuing.

He's trying to lay hold of what Christ laid a hold of him for. Well, what did Christ save him for? Let's look at a few verses. Romans 829.

Go ahead, Lynn. Image of his son. He might be the first born many brothers.

Now, I don't know where you stand on election and the sovereignty of God. And can somebody resist God's salvation? A lot of people go to say, look, he says he predestined here. Well, look what he predestined us, too, those he foreknew.

He predestined for a purpose, to be conformed to the image of his son. So the predestination is God saved you so that you could be conformed to Christ Jesus. That's the whole reason he did this.

He wants to make you like his son. And Paul's saying, that's God's goal in saving me, to make me like his son. So that's what I'm reaching for.

That's what I'm going after. I want to be what God wanted me to be when he saved me. And Paul's working towards that.

Second Thessalonians 214 another reader. Go ahead, Abigail. For the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus.

So he called you by the gospel. He called each and everyone else by the gospel, that we would obtain the glory of Lord Jesus Christ, that we would be worked into his glory, that we would reflect who God is. That's God's goal in saving us.

God's goal in saving us is not just to save us so that we don't go to hell. God's goal in saving us is to make us a people like him, to conform us to his image, to reflect his glory. And Paul says, I know what God's goal is in saving me.

This was God's goal in save me. This is what I'm striving after. This is what I'm reaching for.

This is what I'm trying to do in my life because I want to do what God saved me to do. So that's Paul's motivation here. What is he trying to do? He's trying to be the person God is wanting him to be and what God will eventually make him when he gets to heaven.

Moving on. Point to you here. Philippians 313 and 14 goes on to say, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but the one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Lots unpack here. We'll do our best here. So I have this as Paul's goal.

So the first thing he says, brethren, so he's talking to other believers here. He says, I do not count myself to have apprehended. So Paul has an honest evaluation of himself.

He's Paul the apostle. He's the writer of scripture. He's the one who's been going around planting churches, the first person to plant churches in many of these cities he's gone to.

He says, I'm not there yet. I haven't apprehended. I haven't reached the goal yet.

I'm still working at it. So it's an honest evaluation. He's not counting this idea of do not count myself.

He's not counting himself to have apprehended. It means to rec. I don't know if I have recount.

I think it's supposed to be recount. I think it changed it in the spell check or something. Calculate to take into account.

He's looked at himself and said, I'm not there yet. I'm still working towards this goal. So apprehended, this is the same word as lay hold of in verse twelve, which is used twice there.

That he lays hold, after which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. So the idea that he wants to be who God saved him to be, he says, I'm not there yet. I'm still working at it.

It's an honest evaluation by Paul. Paul has not yet reached his spiritual perfection and I will say he doesn't reach it in his life. You know why? Because we don't.

We don't. But we're heading that direction. We're trying to be who God wants us to be.

Now, Paul does have an evaluation of himself at the end of his life. Two Timothy four seven. Who wants to read that? Go ahead, Lisabel.

So here, Paul, as he's, some of his last words here to Timothy just before he's executed, he's saying, I've been doing what God wants me to do. He's worked that way in his life. Now, again, I don't think he's attained all the way, but he is serving God and doing what God wants him to do.

That's what we ought to be striving for. Wouldn't it be wonderful? You could say at the end of your life, I have fought the good fight. I finished the race, I have kept the faith.

I've done what God wants me to do. That's what Paul's seeking to do. And as he writes to the Philippians, he's saying, that's the direction I want to go.

I want to be the person God wants me to be. And Paul could say that at the end of his life to Timothy, that I've done what God wanted me to do. But Paul's honestly evaluation, he hasn't apprehended.

He hasn't reached that point yet. So how is he going to do that? Well, he has two focused actions here that he takes in this verse. First thing he says is the one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind.

So the first thing, he's got to forget something. He's got to forget the things that are behind. So why is he forgetting that's behind? I think in the context of this passage, remember, he's talking about his human accomplishments and how he was a Jew of Jews.

He was a pharisee of Pharisees. He was blameless in the law. He was of the right stock, the right birth and stuff.

And he says, I'm putting those things behind. Those things that I accomplished, those things that I thought were good. I'm forgetting those things.

That's not what my goal is. And then he says that his second goal is he's reaching forward the things which are ahead. And we're going to talk a little bit about what the things that are ahead are.

But his focus is not on what's past. His focus is on what's future he's looking towards. Where does God want me to be? Where is God going to have me when I get to the end of my life and when I get to in his presence? That's what I'm focusing on.

That's what I want to be. So I want to talk a little bit about this. So, forgetting the behind and the focus on future.

What kind of things are we forgetting? Things behind good things or bad things? Okay, we're forgetting bad things. What kind of bad things might we be forgetting? Sin that's been in our life that we've struggled with, maybe. Okay, so just a general failure to do accomplish the things that you think that you should have tried harder to accomplish or have been better accomplished.

So failure, sin, what? Okay, we do try to forget that, but that's a different point here. So why would these bad things keep us from doing this? Focusing on the future? How does that, okay. Discourage us? So we might say something like, I can't because I used to be, and I used to be a bad person.

I used to do some bad things. God can't use me. I can't serve him.

We might say, I can't because I had these all thought out, too. I should have written it down. I can't because I used to be something.

I can't because this thing happened. So maybe some event in the past that something bad happened. You hurt somebody, you did something that you feels like, horrific.

And God can't use me now. I can't do that. This kind of idea.

Can you think of any others? Because I had like three or four of these. That's not your hand up. People scratching throws me off.

Yeah. So you kind of get the idea, right? We ain't do this in the christian life sometimes, too. Like, wow, I wish I could do this, but I'm not that kind of person.

God hasn't gifted me to do that. That could be another thing. I mean, we come up with all kinds of excuses based on who we were or who we are.

Lynn, I can't talk to someone. Yeah, we come up with all kinds of things because of things in the past or things in the present that I can't do it because. And we lose our focus on the future.

What does God want you to be? What does God want you to do? How does God want you to act? And we put our focus on this instead of that, and it keeps us from doing what God wants us to do. Now can we forget good things, too? Can good things in the past hurt our walk? I think they can. So I think the good things can.

And how does this work? Yeah, I'm doing great. I've been faithful to church. I've been the song leader.

I've been teaching Sunday school. I've been serving. Every time they ask me to serve, I come out for all the witnessing opportunities.

I'm doing great. I don't need to worry about that. I'm where God wants me to be.

Well, look at Paul. He's writing to the Philippians scripture and saying, I haven't apprehended yet. I still have ways to go.

Do we think that any one of us is at that level? That we're better than Paul? That Paul didn't have it figured out? But, boy, I have it figured out. I'm walking the way God wants me to. And sometimes we can rest on what we've done, good or bad, and be looking at the past.

Now, do we need to look at the past and figure out mistakes we made and learn from them? Yes, but where's our focus as far as our christian walk? Where we're going, it should be on the future. Where does God want us to be? What is God going to change us into? Am I reaching for that? Okay, I've done this in the past. That's okay.

Let's go forward. Let's look at what God wants me to be. I'm going to try to be what God wants me to be.

And we're going to talk about, this is different for everybody. You don't have to be on the same level. None of us have to get up there and say, next week I'm going to preach because God really wants me to preach.

I should be a pastor. Well, no, not necessarily. That might not be where you're at.

So there's different levels, but we forget the things behind us and focus on the future. That's what Paul was doing. Galatians four nine, who would like to read? Go ahead.

But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn against the weak and federally elements to which you desire, again to be bonded? So in Galatians four, it's talking about people that are putting themselves back under the law, that are submitting themselves back to the law. Kind of the same idea what Paul was saying, that we don't give confidence to the flesh. They're trying to go back again.

And Paul's saying, why are you looking back? Why are you putting yourself in bondage of things that didn't get you saved before? Instead of the idea of looking to the future. And Paul's kind of giving the same example here. So Paul's focused actions, he's forgetting the things that are behind, reaching towards the things in the future.

And the goal is the prize. I looked at this, I was writing something else down. The object here is the prize.

There's a prize at the end of this. It's not what you think. MacArthur, in his commentaries, when he talks about this passage, he starts talking about different crowns and stuff, and then those are things that we can earn.

But the prize here is not a crown. The prize is something that Paul's pressing towards. Again, the same word that he says press on in verse twelve, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also lay hold of me.

So it's the same word here, but the prize is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Upward call is literally the above call. The idea here, I think, is that the prize is that you get to be who God wants you to be.

You get to be conformed to the image of Christ. You get to be holy and righteous before God in your actions. That's a prize.

Too often we think of the christian life, we go, well, there's a lot of rules I got to follow. It's really hard. I should do it because it's right, but I really don't feel like it.

We don't see this as a good thing, we should be looking at what God wants us to do, the righteousness and holiness in our life, and saying, that's great. That's awesome. I can be like that.

I don't have to be like the world. I don't have to be like the gentiles. I can be the way God wants me to be.

What a prize that is. That's how Paul's looking at the prize of this upward calling that he has in Christ Jesus. And I looked at this word call and I could have put like 50 verses here, but I just give you a sampling here.

The call of Christ always leads to a holy and disciplined and righteous life. So let's look at some of these passages. Ephesians four one wants to read.

Ted, go ahead. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. There's a certain walk that's worthy of how we're called.

God called us in holiness. God called us in righteousness. God called us to be his children.

And there's a walk that reflects that, that we live the way God has called us. So it's that above call that God wants for us. One.

Peter, two, nine. Go ahead, Abigail. You are a chosen generation, a royal, his own special people.

That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness. The purpose of us being saved, of being this holy royal priesthood, this holy nation, this special people, that he's called all darkness into light, is that we may proclaim his praises, that we may reflect Christ, that our life may be a worship to him, a praise to him. There's that call in our life.

Two Thessalonians 111 and twelve. Nathan. Go ahead.

Therefore, we also pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of his calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and the grace of our God, Lord Jesus Christ. Here God would count us worthy of his calling, that all the pleasure of his goodness and work of faith with power and work in us, that the name of Jesus Christ would be glorified in us. That's the calling.

That's the upward call that Paul is pressing towards. First, Thessalonians 212. Lemuel, go ahead.

That you would walk worthy enough, called you into his own kingdom. Again worthy of God. He's called you into his kingdom, into his glory, that you would walk like that.

This is a good thing. This is a prize. This is a benefit to us, that we can do what is right and be holy and righteous before God in the way we live.

That's what God wants us to do. That's what Paul's reaching for. He hasn't apprehended yet, but that's his goal.

He's focusing on that future, that I'm going to be like Christ. I want to start living like that now. I want to be working in that direction.

I want to each and every day grow a little bit closer to being like Christ. That's that upward call. And he's putting aside those things in the past, those things that say, Paul, you're not good enough to do that.

You goofed up, you messed up. You're just not as good a guy as you think you are. You just can't do it.

And he says, I'm forgetting that. And he's even forgetting the good things that he's accomplished. He's done a lot in his life.

Paul is a pretty good guy. He's gone on missionary journeys, started churches. I'm fine.

I don't have to grow anymore in Christ. And he's saying, no, I'm not there yet. I'm still growing.

I'm still trying to reach that goal. So Paul's goal here is to be to press forward to those things which are head the goal of the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. That's what he's focused on.

Then we go to verses 15 and 16 here, and he says, therefore, let us as many as are mature have this mind. And if any of 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. So Paul's encouragement to us, he's been talking about what he does now. He's going to encourage us, Paul's encouragement to us.

So therefore let us. He's including everybody here, all the Philippians, all the believers here, as many as mature, have this mind. So his encouragement is that we have this mind that he just described that as Paul's saying, I haven't apprehended, but I'm reaching forward, I'm pressing forward.

I'm going for this goal. You guys have the same mind. You guys do the same thing.

Now he says, as many as are mature. This is an interesting phrase here, because part of his goal is to be mature, right? We saw that in verse twelve where he talks about that. I'm not already perfected.

I'm not already matured. Now he says as many as are mature. There's two kind of thoughts on this.

One is that he's writing to the Jewish people that are telling these Christians and Philip, hey, you need to get circumcised and you put yourself under the Jewish law. You need to have your confidence in the flesh, the things you do. And they're thinking that they're mature.

So he may be saying, hey, you guys who are saying you're mature, who think you're mature, this applies to you. I think it's more the second thought here that the idea is that we are mature, we're complete, we're perfected in Christ, positionally. So as many of us are positionally perfected in Christ, we ought to have the same mind that practically we ought to be maturing ourselves.

So mature. This is a noun form of perfected in verse twelve. This could refer to a positional perfection, since the passage deals with striving for practical perfection.

That's what I'm thinking it deals with here. If you disagree with me, I'm not going to argue too much over it, but that's where I think that Paul's going here. So have the same mind.

If any of you think otherwise, I love this. God will reveal even this yourself. So if they think otherwise, so they think they're supposed to have the same goals and motivations to pursue the upward call in Christ.

But if they don't think this way, he says God will reveal this also. So I think Paul's so confident in this mindset that he knows God will reveal that this is right for any who seek the truth of it. I think he's convinced in this, and that's why he says that if you think otherwise, God's going to reveal it to you, that, yeah, this is the right thing.

So he's kind of stopping all arguments there is what I think he's doing, but what is he thinking otherwise? Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already tamed, let us walk by the same rule. So he wants them to walk by the same rule, the same idea that they're pressing forward for the high calling of the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus here. So we are commanded to walk in pursuit of being complete in Christ.

Let's look at several verses here. Ephesians 210. Go ahead, Olivia.

So Ephesians two, eight and nine is a common salvation verse. We use a lot for by grace, you've been saved, blah, blah, blah. We stop at nine a lot of times.

Verse ten tells us that you're saved. Now you're God's workmanship in Christ Jesus, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand, that you should be doing them. It's not just the point of God to save you.

The point of God is to save you and to mature you. He wants you to walk in the way that he wants you to walk. So it's not just about salvation.

It's about growing in Christ. Ephesians five eight. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

There's a positional change. We were once darkness. We were once apart from God.

We were once separated from God. Now we're light. Now we're in the truth.

We're in God's family here, so to speak. You're light in the Lord. What do we need to do? Well, let's just celebrate and do whatever we want.

Let's just do whatever pleases. No, we're supposed to walk as children of light. We're supposed to walk in the way God wants us to walk.

Colossians one, nine and ten. Matthew, for this reason. So since the day that Paul heard of the Colossian salvation, he's been praying for them.

And part of that is that they may walk worthy of the Lord, that they may be fully pleasing him, that they may be fruitful in every good work, that they may increase in the knowledge of God. There's a growth that he's praying for, that he knows that God desires in our life. One more passage first.

Thessalonians 212. Josiah, go ahead. That you would walk worthy of God.

And that's the goal here again, that we would walk worthy of God. Why? Because he's already called us into his kingdom, into his glory, and that ought to be our response. Paul says we need to be walking by the same rule that we're pursuing the things of God.

He says, to the degree that we have already attained, this is where I'm talking about, that for each of us, that may be a different place. Okay. To the degree that we have already attained, this is acknowledgment that we're not all in the same place, but we need to have the same goal.

So you may not be farther along as somebody, you may be farther along as somebody else, and there's different things where you might be. God may be showing you through his word. These are things I need to work on in my life.

These are things I need to be doing. But the goal is all the same for all of us. We're all going to be perfected.

We're all going to be made holy and righteous before God in all eternity, our goal ought to be the same. We're looking at the same horizon, saying, we're all trying to get there. We may be at different steps along the way in the journey, but our focus is the same.

And what's really neat about that, I think, is that when God talks about the church being together to edify and to build up one another, we can do that because we have the same goal. It doesn't matter where you're at. The goal is the same.

Are we becoming more and more like Christ every day? Are we living more righteously for him? It's not like your goal is to do this. My goal is to do that. We don't have any relation.

No, we're on the same page. We may not be at the same point, but we're moving along in the same direction. So the degree that we have already attained, that's what we should be doing.

Then point c here at the end of your verse, you have be of the same mind. This is not in some of the Greek manuscripts, some of the older manuscripts, but it kind of reflects the same thing as what's in point a here, which is to have this bind. So I think it's not a problem that's repeated.

If it wasn't there, it's kind of conveyed the same information to us. So depending on how you feel about Greek manuscripts, whether it was really there or not, it really doesn't matter in this case, because it's saying the same thing that's already been taught. So it could be just a reiteration, or it could be just not there, but not a big deal anyway.

So that's kind of where I think Paul is going, what he's looking forward to doing. I put it as Paul's focus on where he's going. Where is he going? He's going to Christ likeness.

He's going to be trying to get as closely as he can to what he's going to be like when he's in heaven with God. So what are the takeaways? So the one thing that we can all admit to is that we have not reached the point in our lives that God wants us to reach. I'm hoping you can at least admit to that.

Okay. Each one of us has room to grow. We can each continue to grow and pursue holiness, because there's always more to pursue.

Our focus should not be on where we have been, but where we are headed and when we should pursue that. The first thing I think we have to tell ourselves, if you don't believe this. You should believe it.

You're not there yet. You haven't attained. You're not where God wants you to be in your life.

But that's okay. You should be working that direction. You should have that goal.

You should have that focus .2. Here Paul has a focused pursuit to be who God wants him to be. And is that our focus? Are we distracted by other pursuits? Are we really serious about maturing in Christ? Are we really serious in becoming the people God wants us to be? Third point here.

You are not at the same point in your spiritual growth as others are. The focus is not where you are at, but where you are going. We all have the same endpoint, so it doesn't really matter where you're at or where anybody else is at.

You do what God wants you to do. Focus on the things God is revealing to you that you should be growing in. Do what you can for God.

And as you grow, God will reveal more. So that always seems to be true. You work on something, you start to live righteously.

You start doing what's right. And then God says, oh, here's another area. And you go, okay, more to work on.

And it's going to be like that probably your whole life. I would guess, based on what I'm reading in scripture here, that God's going to keep working in your life as you keep pursuing him. So last thing I have is godliness is a prize.

We ought to view our spiritual growth as something to be desired and not just an obligation. We ought to delight in our growth. I think that's sometimes we get that wrong mindset.

Like now I have to do what's right. No, it should be, yay. I get to do what's right.

God has given me the ability. He's given me the power. He's given me the resources to do what he wants me to do.

This is exciting. When I was unsaved, I couldn't do that. I didn't have the Holy Spirit.

I didn't understand God's word. Now I have all this. I can do it.

It should be exciting for us. So any thoughts or questions or concerns? Comments? Yeah, walk setting. Christ takes effort.

Yeah, it, it takes effort. It's, you know, the walk also has this idea of a lifestyle. As you walk around, as you're living your life, this is what's happening.

This is not even a Sunday and Wednesday thing. This is at every moment, every day, every choice, every thought. We ought to be seeking how we can pursue righteousness, how we can live for God.

So yeah, that works. Anyone else this morning? Okay. I'm going to ask Josiah if you'll close us in prayer.

Lord, thank you for this great Sunday worship, Lord, today. Thank you, Lord, for having Matt join us as a member of this church, Lord. Pray that we would take these lessons of book and we learned today to our heart, Lord.

And continue focusing on the future and what you want us to do, Lord. And further our walk with you, Lord. Amen.