Goals, Not Resolutions

Re-cap

We mentioned last week how in Christ Jesus we are called to forget our past and look forward to the future.

We get so caught up in who we were, how we failed, how we have shame , or guilt, and our identity becomes more bound up in who we are instead of who Christ calls us

And we discovered that in Christ we are a New Creation, the old has passed and the new has come

This New Year we need to be more concerned about who we now are in Jesus Christ and less about who we were in our sin last year

Let’s Get Started

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and get them open to Philippians Chapter three, we will be reading a short passage from here tonight

and if you have a journal with you today, I encourage you to take a few notes, but definitely have a piece of paper and pen as you head into small groups

As you turn in your Bibles, I want to put this question to you:

How many of you have ever been in a race or a competition before? Any kind of race (running, swimming, go-kart for all intents and purposes)

Now, how many of you have won those races?

Ho

Here’s what I want to put before you, in order to win, there had to be a lot of preparation that went into achieving that goal.

Maybe not for the go-karters, but I can tell you that for you to win that race even with all the other amateurs on the track, you had a goal in mind, and you worked to meet that goal on the track as you drove

Nobody who WINS races goes in thinking, I’ll settle for third. I’d be fine if I got fifth today. Nobody who has ever won has thought that way.

Everybody that wins steps into a race has the mentality, I’m going to win this thing.

But why, when it comes to our faith, are we so quick to give up? so quick to not press on and achieve what has been placed in front of us? Why is our faith just one race we don’t intend on winning?

Well maybe it’s because we have NEVER thought of it that way

And it is my belief that today, Jesus wants you, wants me, wants all of us to see that our faith is something WORTH pursuing. Something worth attaining. A GOAL WORTH SETTING.

Scripture

So let’s read our passage today;

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Let’s Pray

Even Paul Hasn’t Reached His Goal

The very first thing I want you to notice in verse 12 is that even Paul has not reached this goal that he is pursuing.

He says, “not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect”

I just want to make abundantly clear that we are talking about the Apostle Paul, the guy that wrote half the New Testament, planted at LEAST 14 churches (those are just the ones mentioned in the scriptures), the guy that went from persecuting Christians, to becoming the Justin Timberlake of Preaching the Gospel.

And he says that even HE has not obtained his goal

But, he presses on to make it His own because Jesus has made me his own

Paul will keep pressing forward, pressing forward, pressing forward, because JESUS

I think this is important, sit here with me. If you do not see the infinite worth of Christ in your life, fighting for your faith will simply be impossible.

Paul presses on to make the goal his own, because Jesus made him his own.

The same goes and applies for us. We should fight and make it our own, because Jesus has made us his own.

Our Focus Has to be on our own pressing on

He goes on in v.13

“I do not consider that I have made it my own”

Why does he state it again, because he wants to make abundantly clear that he hasn’t obtained it yet. He hasn’t gotten there. He is still working toward it.

then he says, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,”

This is SO IMPORTANT: I don’t think Paul is trying to make evident his sin. Remembering his past. Maybe he is, we talked about that last week, so I’m not talking about that again.

But Paul in the next passage moves into our race metaphor that we began with

So, here is the thing: if you have ever been in a race before, whether you have been told be your coaches or instinctively knew NOT to do it, YOU NEVER LOOK BACK to see you who coming up on you.

OUR FAITH, OUR GOALS: They are our own! We cannot compare them to the person behind or even to the person behind us:

Paul presses toward his goal, not others

We will find ourselves in different

“14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul does not make mention of the others in the race that he is competing against. He doesn’t mention them because for him they are not important.

There is one that is important: Jesus Christ

His goal is Christ, his prize is Christ, so he will do anything to obtain that pressing forward and seeing the goal in front of him, not those behind or in front

And how do we press on toward Jesus, what is the specific goal? Paul doesn’t say, but I think he leaves that ambiguous for our sake. There are so many goals in the Christian life:

What are some goals that we could be pressing toward this year

How about Knowledge of Christ: ”

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God”

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”

Or to Please God:

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him

Or to love others:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Maybe this year your goal is about a spiritual discipline we learned at the end of last year, like prayer, or service, or journaling

Personally, I am pursuing journaling. I have found it to be so rewarding. But let me tell you. I have struggled for 8 YEARS to journal. But it was a goal that I KNEW I had to reach. That I had to accomplish for my prize in Christ Jesus.

And Here lies the title of this message, “Pursue Goal, Don’t Make Resolutions”

The Goal is something to strive toward and to obtain, knowing along the way you are not going to be perfect

But there is grace along the way and Christ to encourage you through the struggle.

The problem with a resolution is that it says you’ve already obtained the goal without any work, and now you have to try not to fail

Resolutions set you up for failure, goals set you up for success.

In the Words of Matt Chandler, “grace is for the journey”

Let grace empower you to find success as you strive toward the goal

But it was a goal!

Paul trusts where he is at and knows where he is going

This is how Paul closes

15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

He calls the believer to know that what he is saying is true. The mature will believer will know that there is a goal that is worthy to go after. that goal in Christ. We should with the mindset, i’m going to win! And for those that do not have this revealed to them his prayer is that is will be. He hopes beyond hope that the Christian will see the necessity of seeing your goals and going after them.

And he leaves the believer with this encouragement also,

“Only let us hold true to what we have attained”

What Paul is saying is: Let each of us acknowledge where it is we are. Where we are in this race. What we have to work on. And know that we can work on it. We can work toward it. We can go after it with everything. But go forward, prepared to learn. Prepared to be corrected. Prepared to make mistakes, and take wrong turns. But keep PRESSING ON

Let’s Pray