Untitled Sermon
c. Paul’s reasons for the renunciation of his fleshly advantages (3:8–11)
Paul renounced his former “gains” and counted them as “dung”:
(1) For justification reasons—That he might win Christ and be found in connection with Him and His by faith righteousness (3:8, 9)
Paul was willing to lose all things to win (gain, receive) the Blesser and His great blessing (faith-righteousness, justification). To have the Blesser is to have justification and all else that we need.
(2) For sanctification reasons—That he might know Christ, that he might know the power of His resurrection, that he might fellowship His sufferings, that he might be conformed to His death, and that he might attain unto the resurrection from the dead (3:10, 11)
Paul desired daily to know Christ in experience, Phil. 2:1, daily to share Christ’s powerful resurrection life, Rom. 6:4; 2 Cor. 13:4; Eph. 1:19 (the more we yield to Him, the more of His resurrection life do we experience), daily to fellowship Christ’s sufferings, Luke 6:22, 23; Acts 5:41; Phil. 1:29; 2 Tim. 2:12; 1 Peter 4:12, 13 (the more we experience His resurrection life, the more of His sufferings for righteousness’ sake are we privileged to share), daily to be conformed to His death, Mk. 10:45; Rom. 15:3 (the more we fellowship His sufferings, the more are we conformed to His life of living only for others, here called “His death,” His death to self), and finally to attain to the resurrection from the dead (that is, to attain in this lifetime the state of ever being dead to the self life but ever alive to the divine life).
d. Paul’s confession of imperfection (3:12a, 13a)
(1) He has not attained (3:12)—The word “attained” in this verse comes from a different Greek word than the one from which the word “attain” of verse eleven comes. In verse eleven, the word means “to arrive at, as at a goal,” while in verse twelve the word means “to fully appropriate.” Paul says “I have only partially and not fully appropriated the things of verses ten and eleven (Christ, His resurrection life, His sufferings, His life of self denial and full dedication to God and His permanent and constant dedication to God.)”
(2) He is not already perfect (3:12)—The Greek word here translated “perfect” does not mean sinless but absolutely mature. Paul says “I have not reached the state of absolute perfection (maturity). There is yet room for growth.”
In every age, some Christians have claimed absolute perfection (these people are called “holiness people”).
(3) He does not count himself as having apprehended (3:13a)—Christ apprehended (captured) Paul that Paul might be fully Christlike. Paul says “I do not count (consider) myself to have apprehended (fully captured) Christlikeness but I am following after (pursuing) this goal.”
e. Paul’s pursuit of the goal (3:13, 14)
(1) The goal—The goal for every Christian is Christlikeness.
(2) The way to reach the goal
(a) Completely forget the past things (“forgetting those things which are behind”)—Do not brood over past mistakes, failures, and disappointments and do not brag about past successes and triumphs. Do benefit by past experiences (by remembering the lessons they taught us).
(b) Solely concentrate on the present thing (“this one thing I do”)—Solely concentrate on the most important thing in life, the pursuit of the true goal. If we pursue many goals, we often attain none of them.
(c) Eagerly embrace future things (“reaching forth unto those things which are before”)—Eagerly embrace all the labors, testings, and sufferings lying between us and the goal.
(d) Diligently pursue the ultimate thing (“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”)—Earnestly pursue the goal (“the mark”), Christlikeness, that the prize associated with the heavenly calling of Christians by God might be obtained. The prize that will be given to all Christians who run well (to all Christians who “so run,” 1 Cor. 9:26) will be hearing Christ say “well done” and receiving from Him fullness of reward, Matt. 25:21, 23.