Marathon Men

Good Morning Church, Bibles out, Phil 3:12.

We ended last week with verse 11 where Paul says that “by any means possible he may obtain the resurrection from the dead”

The Scriptures in their entirety point toward the “day of the Lord”

This day where we will get new perfect bodies. Our sinful flesh will be destroyed and we will be risen up into a new one…to physically dwell in heaven with Jesus!!!

Pauls focus last week was to get us to see that…to REMEMBER that it was only through faith in the shed blood of Christ that we were able to obtain this.

So he told us to remember the Gospel…

And to REJOICE in what it provided us…The ability to be Justified, Sanctified, and Glorified physically dwelling with the Lord for eternity!!!

Now this day is coming…but its not here yet…

So until this day comes…what do we do now???

Thats what Paul is goin to get into today…

How do we live until the return of Christ?

Lets let the Lord tell us through His word today…

READ V12-21

Let me ask you a question…DO WE HAVE ANY RUNNERS IN HERE??

Any of y’all love to go running?

We have the mini marathon coming up…any of y’all running that???

Running at a steady fast pace for a long time may be one of the hardest things to do…

These marathon and cross country and ultra runners are a different breed man…

In HS our cross country team used to wear T-shirts that said “Our sport is your sports punishment”

SO TRUE! As as football player…running was a negative thing…it was how we were disciplined…

Its because running is hard man…

When your running in a race (marathon, cross country, whatever)…

There is a few things you have to understand in order to finish the race…

First you need to understand that you are in a race right…that there is a race to be run

Then you need to understand that in order to finish well… you need to stay on the track or trail…if you deviate it can be harder…

Often times we can tell where the track is by following the person running in front of us…

But ultimately… the most important thing is to keep your eyes fixated on the finish line…your running toward a goal…

WELL as we break down the text this morning we are going to see Paul use a lot of “race running vocabulary” in describing how we should live our lives until the return of Jesus…

And all the elements of a real running race we just spoke about will come into play as we look at the race we are running as Christ followers…

So we all need to realize…we have a race to run…and we need to run that race!

At the end of Pauls life he said this about the life in Christ he had lived…

2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Until our final breath we must…

Run the Race (v12-14)

V12 READ

Coming out of verse 11

I will obtain the resurrection on the lords day

perfect body is coming… I am not perfect yet…

BUT…I press on…to make it my own…

This goes back to the main theme of the letter to the Philippians in chapter 1

Phil 1:27 “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ”

Paul is saying I have made this mission my own…I AM OWNING IT

I am going to live a life worthy of the gospel…

WHY? Because Jesus made me His own…He made me a child of God…so Im going to live like one who belongs to God…

And that means I will press on…move forward toward Christ likeness…

Jesus’s work was to make us like Him and HE ACCOMPLISHED THAT GOAL ON THE CROSS…

In response our goal is to live like Him!

Paul says we are to run after that goal… to press on to strive to apprehend it.

I love what Paul says next though in v13…reminds the church even he has not yet accomplished living a life in Christlikeness yet…

BUT ON THING I DO…forget what was behind and stain forward to what lies ahead…

I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL…

APPLICATION:

There is a race to be run…

Notice the repetition of the “race vocabulary”

Christlikeness should be fervently pursued…run after…

And when we trip or stumble…we get back up…we keep our eyes forward toward the goal!!!

We don’t live in the past…we strive for the future… (remember, we eagerly await Christs return!)

Peter denied Christ 3 times…what if he would have stayed right there…living in that moment forever???

But Jesus asks him 3 times “do you love me? Feed me sheep”

Do you love me then get up and do as I commanded you…KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Don’t dwell on past mistakes…Just like Paul said… I haven’t yet achieved perfection…but Im doing everything in my power to live a life worthy of being called a child of God…

So to answer the question…

How do we live until Jesus returns…we run after a life worthy of the gospel!!!

Now as we are running there are obstacles in our way…one being our flesh…

Paul says his hope lies in the day he will attain the resurrection…the new body…

We all know our flesh , our sinful nature can be an issue when we are running toward Christlikeness…

So its important that we run on the track that Jesus laid before us…

WE NEED TO…

Stay on the Track (v15-16)

When you are running a race…its always good to stay on the track laid before you right?

PAUL SAYS THE SAME…

READ V15-16

Those who are mature Christ followers are to “hold true to what we have attained”

We have been given Gods word and His Spirit!

To know Him and His commands for us…

And His dwelling place inside of us to lead us and keep us on the Path!

We are not alone in our ability to stay on the track…

when our movement starts heading off the path God has laid before us…God will reveal it to you…and shepherd you with His word and through His Spirit back on the path…

He also provides us with people to help lead us…examples to follow!

Often times to stay on track we need to…

Follow the Leader (v17-19)

READ V17-19 again

Paul tells us there are people who are striving and running in the way we all ought to run…

Paul being one of them…tells us to “imitate” him

Walk like me…

He also says to keep our eyes on the people living lives worthy of the gospel…

Striving until the day Jesus returns!!

In ch 2 Paul told the Philippian church that he was sending 2 men (Timothy and Epaphroditus) to be examples of men living lives worthy of the gospel…

Men who Paul said…these men are leading in the race…follow them and keep up at their pace…

There are men and women of Christ right here in this place that the Lord has placed here to lead by example…

Who are leading lives in pursuit of Christlikeness…get connected with them…imitate them!

Paul says in…

1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”

We need to ensure if we are following the examples they are winners examples…

He next discusses who not to follow…

Not as those who are enemies of the cross…

Those whose “god is their belly” and “who glory in their shame”

Remember last week Paul was warning against Judaizers

Men who had worked their way into the church preaching a Jesus plus gospel…

Jesus PLUS the Law..

Who concentrate on what the law tells them to eat or not to eat and when to eat…and they worship it

Men whose glory is in their works…works Paul said last week that he was the best at…yet it was nothing but garbage…a pile of dung…

So this verse applies to Judaizers for sure…

BUT ALSO to the gentiles/ pagan worshippers of the time to…

Last week Paul said beware the dogs…

People of the world whose god is their bellies…those who live for indulgence…

Those who live to self glorify and self indulge…

Their end is destruction!!!

Those people are all around us church!!!

These people not only don’t finish the race…they die before the finish!!!

We dont want to follow those people in their worldly ways…

Nor do we want to be leading in those ways…

NO! Paul is calling us to follow those who are striving and running toward jesus and His glory…

Those people whose eyes are fixed on the finish!!!

And thats the final thing Paul wants us to see…

That all of us are running a race…we need to stay on the path God placed us on…follow the right examples…and…

Keep your Focus on the Finish (v20-21)

READ V 20-21

Keep your mind where your body is going to end up…

you are not a citizen of the world…

you are not of this world…

You are and alien here…in a place you dont belong…

With an eagerness to be with God…

Remember Paul said “Id rather be with God then here on earth”

To die is gain for us!!!!

2 Corinthians 5:6–8 “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

This is the finish line!!!

ONE WE ARE NOT JUST EAGER FOR CHURCH!!! THAT WE ARE CHASING AFTER!!!!

We want to be ready for this day AMEN?!?!?!

And not only us but everyone we come into contact with…we want them with us on that day!!!

Thats why we strive for Christ likeness!!! So we are ready…with out worry on that day!!!

And thats why we speak the gospel to the world…so that those who haven’t placed their faith in Jesus will be blameless on that day just like us!!!

So they to on that day will get a new body…transformed into that of the glory of Jesus…WHO MADE US LIKE HIM!!!

So we can dwell with Him as His bride forever!!!!

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

CHURCH PAUL IS TELLING US…UNTIL THIS DAY COMES

RUN! RUN AS GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO RUN!!!

BE A LIGHT TO THE WORLD…SERVE AS JESUS DID…DIE TO YOURSELF…SACRIFICE FOR OTHERS…BE OBEDIENT TO HIS WORD JUST AS HE WAS OBEDIENT…

IN ALL THINGS GLORIFY JESUS!!!

SO THAT YOU TO CAN SAY IN CONFIDENCE JUST AS PAUL SAYS ON THE FINAL DAY…

2 Timothy 4:7–8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

BIG IDEA: If there is breath in your lungs…There’s a race to be run.

GET OFF THE BENCH…GET INTO THE RACE

WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE…DIE RUNNING!!!!

It is a privilege to run!

A blessing we recieved from Jesus…

If it weren't for Jesus we would have no ability to walk like Him…

He not only gave us the path to walk…but the ability to walk it through His spirit!

ALL OF THIS WAS OBTAINED THROUGH WHAT HE DID FOR US ON THE CROSS…

SO AS WE END OUT OUR TIME TODAY WE NEED TO SEE WHAT THE MOTIVATION IS TO RUN…

ALL OUR RUNNING WOULD BE IN VAIN IF IT WEREN’T FOR ONE THING…

THE GOSPEL…

IF WE WANT TO RUN WELL WE NEED TO CONSTANTLY REMEMBER AND REJOICE IN THE GOSPEL…

THATS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO TODAY…

COMMUNION:

We ARE GOING TO REMEMBER AND REJOICE!

Together as a body of believers, we are going to take communion…

Not just as a ritual, but because we need this constant reminder of Christ’s love for us!

THIS IS WHY WE RUN!!!!

TO GLORIFY THE ONE WHO SHOWED US HIS LOVE FOR US ON THE CROSS!

We are going to take a little bit more intentional quiet time as a church body to pray and remember Jesus’s death on the cross, the blood spilled that gave us eternal life!

AS WE CONTINUE IN WORSHIP THROUGH COMMUNION…

Now, Communion is a time for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone.

If you have not trusted Jesus with your eternal salvation, I ask that you not partake, but instead take this time to reflect on the truth that Jesus died for your sins on the cross, and through His resurrection you can live eternally with Him!

SO, TAKE THIS TIME IN SILENCE …

CONTINUING IN PRAY AND WORSHIP AND REMEMBER THE LOVE JESUS SHOWED US ON THE CROSS AND WE WILL TAKE THE BREAD AND THE CUP TOGETHER…

QUIET PRAYER!! 3-5 MIN

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11,

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”[g]

TAKE THE BREAD AND EAT

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

TAKE THE CUP AND DRINK