Philippians 3:12-15 | Chasing the Finish Line

We are continuing in the book of Philippians today

We are in Philippians3:17-21

We have been looking at this letter that Paul has been writing to the church at Philippi.

Today Paul is again continuing his line of thinking from the section before, but now we see a very clear consideration for the believer.

Paul has been talking about this idea of the goal and the finish line for the believer.

And we looked last week at exactly what this finish line and goal is.

The goal is Christ

The finish line is glorification.

And we are continuing in this same line of thinking but the question we approach today is what does it mean to live like you are reaching for the finish line.

A runner who is running a race may have a clear finish line and a clear goal

But that doesn’t mean they know how to run the race

This gives them direction and clarity, but once the race starts they will find themselves lost in how to get there.

And like we have already seen multiple times throughout the book of Philippians, we see what could be an extensive answer be condensed to just a simple idea.

So Paul starts of by giving them some tips to running the race in verse 17.

Philippians 3:17 NKJV

Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.

Now I would assume the first person to ever run, was Adam.

Unless for some reason Adam just never learned that he could run and instead someone discovered it years later, but I doubt it.

Interesting Note: I have always wondered to what extent of knowledge Adam was given.

What did he have to learn, and what was already inherent?

Did he discover fire on his own, did he just inherently know, or was it somewhere in the middle.

Did Adam just know how to run, or did he one day realize he could move a lot faster if he did these little hops in between steps.

Regardless, now we have 6,000 years of history to look back at how people did things.

The competitive runner today, the basketball player, the football player, they are not figuring out how to do all of this on their own, thye have coaches, people with experience, and they look at them, mimic them, and try to improve.

It is very much the same way in the Christian life.

For the Christian reading through Philippians you might stop here and think...

Ok, I see the finish line, I see the goal, but what does the race look like

What can I actually do right now to draw near christ.

Well he starts out with this very practical advice.

Look at those who have gone before.

Look at the example of believers who have been faithful to Christ.

This is something unfortunately I think is very difficult to find anymore.

If I could ask you a simple question........

Could you name 10 people you know personally who you would say was faithful to Christ, and serves as a great example to you of how to have a relationship with Christ.?

Could you name 5?

Could you name 1?

I am not talking about people you know who went to church, or people who didn’t do really bad things, or even just good people

But people who you can say that the way they lived or live their lives for Christ, is an example I want to mimic

I hope you can say that you have multiple people like this, but unfortunately I find individuals having fewer and fewer solid examples

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t there, it may just mean you haven’t aligned yourself with people like this.

I hear people sometimes say well I didn’t have a good chrisitna example growing up so it isn’t my fault that I don’t how to live for Christ

But I would ask that person what did you do to align yourself with people who could be an example

Well how do I do that?

GO TO CHURCH

One of the primary purposes of the church is for those who have lived life, and have learned lessons, and have studied in the scriptures can pass that down to the younger ones

Unfortunately what happens so often today is generations of believers are like a runner going to run a race but they have never been told how to run

And they are running this race just stumbling all over the place, sometimes going fast, sometimes slow, running out of energy, getting discouraged, and thats how many christians would say their experience of trying to live for Christ has been like.

But that isn’t how its supposed to be

A primary role of hte church is to serve as a spiritual training ground for new believers.

And if you can idenitify with this person stumbling through the race, then I would encourage you to utilize the church for spiritual examples

Church is not a service

Church is not a building

Church is not an event

Church is the place where believers come together to support one another in glorifying Christ by growing more in him

and if all the church is to you is a Sunday service, you are missing the whole point

There are thousands of pastors who can give incredible lessions, much better than I could give, that you could right now be sitting in your pajamas watching on your couch

Why would you waste your time getting up and spending for many of you your only day off coming to listen to someone preach when you could listen to someone much better from?

BECAUSE THE CHURCH ISN’T JUST A PLACE TO HEAR PREACHING, IT IS A PLACE TO GROW TOGETHER IN CHRIST

And this is where Paul says to start in learning how to run this race towards Christ

Philippians 3:18–19 NKJV

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.

There is an important warning here.

Not everyone is an example, and we need to be diligent in judging who is a good example for us to follow and who is not.

Because there are so many who would lead you further away from Christ than closer to him

And this brings us to the focus of the message.

How can we know how to get to the end of the race?

How do we know how to run?

WELL IT’S REALLY PRETTY SIMPLE

Philippians 3:20 NKJV

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

If I were to ask you what is the most important word in this passage, what would you say?

Probably citizenship right?

I think for us there is actually a word that is even more important.

That word is the word “is”

Why? Well lets switch that word out with some other words and see how it changes the whole meaning of the passage.

What if we replaced it with “was”

Our citizenship was heaven

That would mean we already finished the race, and while I am not getting into it today, there are certain ways of looking at the end times that would in a way say this

What if we replaced it with “will be”

Our citizenship will be in heaven

This is really important, becasue this is a common and dangerous way for the beleiver to live

to look forward to heaven in the sense that we are part of this world now, and later that citinzenship will change to heaven

BUT THAT ISN’T WHAT IT SAYS.

IT SAYS OUR CITINZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN

So what does this have to do with running the race?

Well let me phrase it this way.

EX: If a basketball player is wanting to win a championship, he will need to determine what it takes to win

And he would start by doing what, probably looking at those who have played before for guidance.

He would watch and study the greats, he would find a coach

But what about after that?

Well then he would start looking toward the prize and he would determine where he needs to be in his skills to reach that prize

But what if he said, well I will just wait until I get to the championship, and I will see what its like, and then I will figure out how to win it?

Probably wouldn’t work out right?

The greats who have played sports at the highest level have had that championship and that trophy in front of their eyes their entire life

They don’t wait until they get there

THEY TRAIN AS IF THEY WERE THERE ALREADY

LET MESAY THAT AGAIN - THEY TRAIN AS IF THEY WERE THERE ALREADY

The believer who looks at heaven as a future citizenship is missing the whole point of the kingdom of God.

You don’t become a citizen of heaven once you get there, you become a citizen of heaven when you are saved by the blood of christ.

That is your id of citizenship, and it is automatic upon the moment of belief

The christian must look to death as the finish line, christ as the prize, and they must live as if they are already there.

So what does this look like?

How is living like we are a citizen of heaven change what our race looks like.

Well… what does it mean to be a citizen of a country?

When someone becomes a citizen of the United States there is a long and extensive process, it is not something to take lightly

Now this is not saying that we must go through a similar process, but rather that we see the importance of being a citizen, that it is not something that is taken lightly

When someone desires to become a citizen of the United States they have to....

Be approved

Learn about the nation in depth

Commit to potentially going to war for that nation

They are now identified personally with that nation

They begin to take on the characteristics of that nation

They start to learn the customs, and the culture, and the practices

They must submit to the government and the rules of that nation

And you can clearly see each of these ideas serving as a perfect example of what the race looks like for the beleiver.

Despite what you may think, Heaven does not have an open border policy

Now everyone is welcome, but there are requirements to become a member of this nation, and that is belief in Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins and putting your faith in him to save you, AND THAT IS THE ONLY REQUIREMENT

there is no test, no required acts of service....

But when someone becomes a citizen of the United States, they begin to naturally take on the expression of what it means to be a citizen of the United States.

They don’t have to go through a class to learn the customs

They dont have to go through a class to learn norms and culture

They dont have to go through a class to learn what manners are acceptable

They will likely receive a sense of desiring to serve the country in war if it was needed becasue they take pride in their nation

THEY LEARN IN NATURALLY

But you know what thye don’t learn naturally

How the government works

What the laws are

And this is very much the case with becoming a beleiver too

You do not learn everything there is no

You do bit learn everything fhere is to know right away.

There is often a great misconception that that if the believer desires to love Christ than all they need to glorify him will just come naturally.

No, Some does

.And this is what we looked at last week.

The goal for the believr is christ and pur race is working towards him as the prize.

- and as we do this the desire to serve and obey Christ woll come naturally, but that doesnt mean you know how

EX: Picture a football player who is working toward winning the super bowl and they have had that prize in their focus their entire life.- let's say they have even looked at the example of others, they have coaches to guide them- they could have the most zeal and determination physically possible to win that prize, and them striving to win that prize will naturally result in them living a life representative of that-

but they still have to learn the plays

- it doesnt matter how many hours have been spent in the gym, or how many practices have been attended, or how much film has been watched, if he is going tonwin. He has to sit down and learn the plays.

Now also picture this with me....

- what if that football player who has given his life to the sport goes out onto the field in the super bowl, and he hasn't studied the plays, what do you think he will do? - Probably start winging it, He will make up plays as he goes, or he will just forget the plays all together

now this situation is exactly what Paul is talking about earlier in this section

you can probably find yourself in this picture one way or anothrt

You are either.....

- the teammate who is blindly following the guy who is acting like he knows what he's doing

- or you are the guy deceive others when you have no idea what you are doing

This person is called a false prophet, and this is what we are warned so much against.

I promise this isnt a political statement but rather just an analogy.

but these people are like an illegal immigrant

they come into a nation, and they desire so much to be a part of that nation, but they didnt meet the requirements, ans then they live their life appearing as if they were a citizen

but they dont know anything avout yhr country, or the rules, or the government- oh they pick up the culture and the customs and the norms, byt th3y a43 missing the stuff thay doesnt come naturally

And so many believers are turning to these illegal immigrants in the kingdom of God as their source of example And instead of learning abour this country and living it in now, they are believing the word of the illegal immigrant in how to live in a nation they are not even a part of

So you say, how do we know, sometimes its hard to tell who is a citizen and who is not 

- yeah it is, thats why we are warned so much about uncovering and exposing those who lead people astray, false prophets

They may be able to fool you on the culture and the customs- they may look like they really care abou4 this nation But you want to know what they cant fake, their ID.

They can look like a citizen of heaven more than the actual citizens, but when it comes time to check the ID, to see their legal status it will always show the truth.

- so how does the believer do this, and what does this have to do with running the race. 

Well its really pretty simple.

The finish line is death, glorification.

The prize is Christ.

We get support in the direction from the coaches.

We pick up naturally the zeal and desire the harder we run toward the prize.

But we must also learn for ourselves how to take the steps.

And how do we do that?

Well lucky for us, we have the playbook.

We are given all the plays.

How to take every step in this life

What we should step in and what we should step around.

Where we speed up, and where we slow down.

Whether we go right or left in the path.

and it doesn't matter how much zeal or desire to run right you have, if you don't know how, you'll never run the race the way we are called.

Too many Christians look at the playback, they see in scripture how to get saved, and they get the zeal, but they think the zeal is whats importsnt and they throw the playback to yhe side.

and when they dont know how to live life, they dont know the plays- they run to people in the same spot as them, they haven't read the playback either, but you'll follow them anyways.

This passage ends with this beaitiful picture of the prize. Because they prize itself again is what we are chasing, so what is thst.

Philippians 3:21 “who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

You see the amazing thing about this race is when we recieve the prize, we arent just handed a trophy, we become like the prize

We are glorified to be conformed to his body

we are made holy

we are separated from sin and death

Thats what is at the finish line.

heaven

christ

perfection

And how is all this able to work, well it tells us clearly,

"according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."

Because Christ is drawing us near to him

Christian....

Today, if you are confused in how to run this race.

If you are confused by what the steps look like between now and then.

We have simple instructions.

Learn from those who have already ran the race you are running.

- learn from them-

and only learn from those who have the zeal, and have devoted their lives to the accurate study and practice of the word of God, so you know they ar3 guiding you straight

and then take those steps towards christ, let the goal of your life be christ, and let that determination be the motivation of everything you do for him in this life,- and along the way, keep reading thay playbook

- And in this you will have clarity, purpose, and clear direction in the race of the christian life.