Week 9: Philippians 3 | The Only Worthy Pursuit

You and I, Church—we are training for reigning! Or at least, we should be!

If you are a believer and a lover of Jesus this morning—the Jesus Paul showed us last week in Colossians 1; If you know and love this Jesus, then as a child of this King, you are in training.

Training for reigning.

That’s a catchy, but let’s be real—who actually uses the word reigning in everyday life? This isn’t England, and unless your name is Rachel Stuckey, you probably don’t care much about the royal family. Reigning isn’t a word we use everyday!

So let’s think of it like this: If you’re in Jesus, well then you’ve joined the family business, and God has invited you to be a partner in it right now—with the promise that one day, you’ll inherit the whole thing!

And we’ve all seen how this story plays out in real life, haven’t we?

A first-generation entrepreneur works hard, sacrifices, and builds something successful. Then along comes the second generation, who, in most cases, do a decent job. But by the third or fourth generation? Those rascals often run the whole thing into the ground.

Why? Because later generations fail to put in the same work, discipline, and commitment. They inherit something valuable but assume it will just continue on autopilot. And eventually, it falls apart.

Church, the same thing can happen in the Christian life. If we just coast and stop stop actively pursuing Christ, we will drift! There’s no coasting in this culture. You’re either swimming up stream against the current or you’re getting sucked down stream with it by all the things including our digital technology!

Which how’s the fast going! I hope you’re starting to think about how to intentionally re-engage with digital tech once our fast is over. The whole reason for a fast like this is not just to hit pause, but it’s to hit reset and give us an opportunity to recalibrate how we plan to intentionally live our lives and order them so that we’re being formed into the image of Jesus and less into the image of the world!

Anyways, Paul’s shows us today that the Christian life is not passive—it’s a constant pursuit.

And if business analogies aren’t your thing, maybe you’re one of those crazy people who enjoys running! Even the most gifted runners can’t just show up on race day and expect to succeed.

Without a ton of miles logged in training, the race will break you. You don’t try to run a marathon—you train for it. You press on toward the goal with disciplined pursuit.

The same is true for following Jesus. Real transformation doesn’t come from simply trying harder. Like third-generation children of a family business or an untrained marathon runner, we don’t drift into spiritual maturity. It requires discipline, pursuit, and training. Training for reigning!

And Paul understood this. He knew that transformation doesn’t happen by accident.

Which is why in Philippians 3, Paul invites us to pattern our lives after him and others like him so that we too might be formed more into the image of Jesus.

That’s today’s big idea:

➡ Pattern your life to pursue Christ after Paul and other faithful followers like him.

And to unpack this big idea, Paul gives us the framework by way of:

A Warning: Put no confidence in human effort. vv. 1-8

A Reminder: Trust in Christ’s work to establish our partnership with God. vv. 7-11

A Command: Press on in partnership with God to be formed! vv. 12-15

An Invitation: Follow the right patterns and people. vv. 16-21

So, let's dive into Philippians 3 and see how Paul guides us.

Before we explore the path to true pursuit, we must first acknowledge a critical danger—a pitfall that can derail even the most sincere intentions.

The world tells us that our achievements and our hard work define us. But the gospel offers a counter-narrative: it reminds us that apart from Jesus, we are powerless. While it’s not true that our works don’t matter, it is true that they can’t ever save us! Works are the fruit of salvation and our relationship with Jesus, not the roots of how we earn salvation!

Paul perceived this, and he recognized the church in Philippi was grappling with just this theological question: They were being tempted to rely on human effort, on legalistic rules, and regulations to try and make themselves right before God. But Paul's warning was and is clear: we are to put no confidence in human effort.

Let's read his words in Philippians 3:1-7."

1. A Warning: Put no Confidence in Human Effort (vv. 1-8)

Philippians 3:1–8 NLT

1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

V. 3 sums it up for us nicely! Paul says: “3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,”

And then because Paul is Paul, he says listen, I’m not saying this as someone who’s never done anything in this life! I’m not saying this as someone who doesn’t have a resume!

In fact, he says, if you all want to compare your works and achievements, if y’all want to compare resumes, ok let’s do that. Here’s mine and then Paul lists his human works and achievements and friends, it’s impressive!

In today terms it amounts to:

A Harvard grad with a law degree and a last name that carried weight, that opened doors. We all can think of a last name like that. Paul had the name, the degree and wasn’t just running in the circles of power, he was ambitiously climbing the ladder, making a name for himself and advancing through the ranks! He came from somewhere impressive and he was going places!

And look at what he says about all that in v. 7 and 8

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ”

I consider it all worthless, like garbage! The Greek here is strong friends. Like dung, excrement, or manure. One Greek dictionary I have in my Bible software, said and I quote: “to convey the crudeness of the Greek … : ‘It’s all crap’.”

Isn’t Paul just the best! He’s like, you guys wanna talk about circumcision and all this legalistic religious rules stuff — I could talk about all that stuff, but you wanna know something.… it’s all crap compared to knowing Jesus!”

Now, why are we talking about this, because we’re talking about training for reigning! We’re talking about the goal, which is stated on the back of your bulletin right at the top left: we are a people who “seek to become more like Jesus in how we think, speak & act.”

The goal of our lives is to be Found and Free in Jesus!

And whenever we set forth a goal like this, with things we can measure — are we or aren’t we living more like Jesus — when we put forth a goal, we can so easily begin to loose focus and start place our confidence in the wrong things!

So Paul warns us firstly! Be careful where you place your confidence.

Although, Paul had every reason to boast in his human efforts and achievements, he discarded it all. Why? Because trusting in status, works, or human effort for salvation is worthless compared to gaining and knowing Christ! As we said last week, anything we do must always serve the purpose of knowing Jesus better and better! It’s about relationship with Jesus not performance to a set of rules!

Which brings us to our next point: Rather than putting confidence in our human efforts, Paul reminds us that we must place our trust in Jesus’ finished work, which establishes and maintains our partnership with God! Look at verses 7-11 with me.

2. A reminder: Trust Christ’s Finished Work to Establish your Partnership with God! (vv. 8-11)

we already read 7&8 so let’s pick up closer to verse 9.

Philippians 3:7–11 NLT

...For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Here we see Paul inviting us to shift from a law based mentality to a grace-based mentality.

Paul is saying, I used to think all my religious efforts were valuable, but now I consider them worthless—garbage! Why? Because his trust isn’t in what he has done for God but in what Christ has done for him.

Paul had spent his life trying to earn righteousness through religious works. He knew facts about God, but his life proved that he didn’t actually know God personally! In fact, he was so off base that he was actually persecuting God and His people! Therefore, all his efforts for God were garbage! His religious résumé meant nothing compared to actually knowing Jesus.

Friends, this is the difference between living under the law and living under grace. It’s the difference between trying to be perfect by following rules or focusing on the relationship!

Think of it in terms of a marriage. Paul says I became one with Jesus in vs. 9. Those are marital terms.

Living under the law is like living under a cruel and demanding spouse who is never happy with anything less than perfection and even if you manage to live up to their expectations and demands, even then there is no rest or intimacy or love because you’re really just waiting for the shoe to drop! This is what living under the law is like. Rather than bolstering our relationship with God, it kills it and instills us with fear. At best we’re always just waiting for God to bring the hammer down in judgement and disappointment!

That’s the law. It demands righteousness but provides no power to attain it. And it leaves us crushed under expectations we can never meet.

Under the law, God says I’ll love you if you perform perfectly! It’s performance over relationship and it places us under sin and it’s wages which Paul tells us in Romans is death!

But grace! Grace, friends has the power of resurrection!

Grace offers righteousness as a gift through Jesus. Grace puts relationship over performance and promises that God will always be glad to see you!

Grace doesn’t just forgive—it empowers because it secures our relationship and partnership with God!

Look at v. 10 and 11. Paul says, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead! I want to suffer with Him! I want to share in His death...”

This is deeply relational language. Paul isn’t just saying, I want to know facts about Jesus. He’s saying, I want to go through life in union with Jesus (v. 9). I want to experience Him. I want to walk with Him, suffer with Him, and die with Him—so that I may also rise with Him.

You see, Paul’s trust isn’t in his own ability to obey laws. It’s in Jesus’ work that He has done, to establish and maintain his relational partnership with God.

And this is all true and awesome, but it brings up some tough questions:

If I’m in Christ by faith, does that mean I’m already perfect?

If it’s all about Christ’s work, does my obedience even matter?

Does God require anything from me?

Is it ok to be a Dory Christian who, “just keeps sinning. just keeps sinning...”

It’s a bit tricky, isn’t it?

And it’s true, when people shift their focus from human effort to Christ’s finished work, they can sometimes miss the heart of gospel and mistakenly believe that grace requires no effort from us at all.

But Paul clarifies: while our trust is firmly in Christ’s finished work, we are still called to press on in partnership with God.

As John Mark Comer puts it in Practicing the Way:

“We have a responsibility to cooperate with God’s transforming grace. He won’t force it on us. As Saint Augustine said... ‘Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not.’ Much of Christians’ current disillusionment over their lack of transformation is because they have never learned their part in spiritual formation. But our job isn’t to self-save; it’s to surrender.” (Practicing the Way, pp. 91-92)

There is work to do and responsibilities we must take on in this journey of faith!

Which brings us to point 3: Look with me at verses 12-14:

3. Press On to partner with God!(vv. 12-14)

Philippians 3:12–15 NLT

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.

Paul answers our first question right up front—No he’s not perfect yet! And he certainly doesn’t trust in his own efforts for righteousness. But that doesn’t mean he’s not giving effort. In fact, it’s the exact opposite! He’s pressing on!

Now, I don’t usually pull out the Greek unless it’s really helpful, and you don’t need to know Greek to understand the Bible or have a relationship with Jesus—but I’m a bit of a nerd, and this is one of those moments where the original language sheds light on something the English translations don’t fully convey.

The Greek word diōkō appears multiple times in this passage, and its meaning is powerful.

In verse 6, Paul says, “I harshly persecuted the church”—the word for persecuted is diōkō.

In verses 12 and 14, when he says, “I press on” to possess perfection and “I press on” toward the prize, the word is again diōkō.

Do you see what Paul is doing? He’s using the same word—one that once described his relentless pursuit to destroy the church—to now describe his relentless pursuit of knowing Jesus.

Before Christ: Paul διώκωed… He ruthless persecuted the church—chasing down Christians with aggressive intent (Phil. 3:6, Acts 9:4-5). He was hunting them, actively seeking to destroy them. This was the organizing principle around which he lived his life.

But now that he’s been united with Jesus, He takes that same intense, all-in pursuit, and directs it toward knowing Christ (Phil. 3:12, 14). Instead of persecuting, he is pressing on with unwavering focus and effort.

Diōkō isn’t a casual word. It’s not about mild interest or passive engagement. It’s an urgent, relentless chase.

To ruthlessly pursue with total commitment

To strenuously chase with sweat and effort

To run after with urgency—like a sprinter giving everything to reach the finish line

That’s what Paul is calling us to in relationship with Jesus.

He says, “I forget what’s behind and strain toward what’s ahead.”

My past failures? Forgiven.

My past achievements? They don’t compare to what Christ has done!

My eyes? Fixed on Jesus—the author and perfecter of my faith.

Church, do you see it? Paul is showing us that faith is not a casual pastime—it's an unyielding pursuit of Jesus.

That’s why I started with the marathon analogy. You don’t just try to run 26.2 miles—you train rigorously for it. And that training isn’t haphazard, it’s not something you drift or coast into. Marathoners follow structured rhythms and practices that shape them into the kind of people who can endure and finish the race.

In the same way, pressing on toward Christ isn’t just about trying harder—it’s about being conformed to and transformed by learning to know Jesus better and better. And this is not something we can expect to just happen haphazardly! While Faith is not a formula, but it does thrive within a framework!

To say it another way, how we pattern our lives, the daily choices, rhythms, and practices we put in place, have us on a trajectory, one of formation in Jesus or one of deformation away from Him.

➡️ Which leads us to our final point:

4. The Patterns That Form Us: Follow Those Who Look Like Jesus

Philippians 3:16–21 NLT

16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. 17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Paul emphasizes a key truth: while faith isn’t a formula, it is formed through patterns. The right habits, the right practices and rhythms of life shape us into Christlikeness.

Another word for pattern comes from the DIY, woodworking and metal fabrication world, there patterns are known as jigs!

A jig provides a framework to hold materials steady, ensures precision, and allows for repeated accuracy. The jig itself is not the thing being created, but it provides guiding structures so that something strong, useful, and beautiful can take shape.

Spiritual disciplines, like fasting are a kind of jig for our faith! Right, we’ve hung up on our digital tech for a bit so that we can be better formed into the image of Jesus by creating space to hang out with Him and His people!

When we intentionally order our lives or pattern them after godly examples and organize our lives around guiding structures and daily habits, we can create space for faith to flourish and grow.

And Paul calls us into this. Look at v. 17 "Pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example" (v. 17). He’s pointing to a spiritual framework—a kind of jig—that helps shape us into Christlikeness, to be formed into the image of Christ rather than be deformed away from Him!

But notice something: Paul doesn’t just list a set of spiritual principles. He doesn’t just say, “Read your Bible, pray, fast, go to church.” Paul doesn’t just list a set of spiritual practices — rather he names people. He invites us to follow him as he follows Jesus and to follow those who are further up and further into Jesus than we are. Why? Because the emphasis is always about relationship.

Again we can think of it like marriage. You can schedule date nights, have intentional conversations, and do thoughtful things for your spouse, but if you’re just going through the motions without love, presence, or engagement, those actions are hollow. A formula won’t create intimacy.

However, the right habits can help intentionally create space where intimacy can flourish.

If a couple never sets aside time for each other, their relationship weakens.

If they don’t have patterns of connection, their love can grow cold.

If they rely only on fleeting emotions, their relationship will be inconsistent at best.

The same is true in our faith. Fasting, Prayer, Scripture meditation & memorization, worship, and Christian community aren’t the relationship with Jesus themselves—but they can serve as helpful jigs that provide the framework for relationship with Jesus to deepen and flourish.

And these patterns are not meant to be dead principles, but rather Paul invites us to follow people, like Himself and others because in Christianity it’s always about relationship! Relationship with Christ and His People the Church!

The question then for us today is not are we being formed, but who and what are be allowing ourselves to be formed or deformed by?

Are we following those who actually look like Jesus? Or just those who claim to be Christian but are shaped by something else—whether it’s their own appetites, worldly pursuits, or a lack of eternal perspective?

And Paul warns us here, that not everyone who claims Christ is actually following Him. “There are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross” (v. 18).

Look at how he describes them:

Their god is their appetite—they live for self-indulgence.

They brag about shameful things—their values are upside down.

They only think about this life—they lack an eternal perspective.

Paul isn’t just teaching here—he’s pleading. With tears in his eyes, he’s saying: Don’t follow those people. Don’t pattern your life after them. It leads to destruction.

Instead, remember who you are:

You are a citizen of heaven. This world is not your home.

You are awaiting Jesus’ return. He is your hope and your reward.

You will be transformed. Now and One day more fully, Christ will make you new.

This is why we train, Church. This is why we pursue Christ. Because we belong to a different kingdom. We are in training for reigning. Are you?

Is the way your life is patterned chasing down Christ with aggressive intent or is the direction of urgent chase after someone or something else?

Who is your life patterned after? Are they leading you toward Jesus?

How’s your training? We don’t put confidence in our human effort, but there is effort for us to expend! Growth doesn’t happen by accident! (Digital Fast word?)

Remember your home! Friends, if you’ve been united with Christ, you are citizen of heaven. Your a partner in the family business and one day you’ll full receive it as an inheritance. Keep you eye on the prize and train for the day we’re invited to reign with Christ!

Pray.