What Lies Ahead
Joy in Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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· 214 viewsPursuit of Christ, His resurrection and Perfection
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Last Week Review
Last Week Review
The title of our study of Philippians is Joy in Jesus and I think rightly so. There are specific issues Paul addresses in this epistle but the primary thing that stand’s out and is mentioned time and time again is Paul’s joy, specifically his joy in Christ.
Christ was the ultimate gain for Paul. He was (and still is) supremely valuable to Paul as well as us.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Death to Paul was gain because death meant that he would be with Jesus.
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
We looked last week at chapter 3 verse 8 which reads:
8 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
He states he “suffered the loss of all things… in order that I may gain Christ.”
We talked about what he lost. Really it was life as Paul knew it. His whole life and worldview changed when he was converted to Christ.
He lost his comfortable status as a Pharisee, likely many friends, his social standing, and certainly many privileges he enjoyed. Basically he lost himself. He lost himself yet gained Christ. That’s a pretty good trade.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
We discussed how Paul and all of mankind becomes justified, or declared righteous, before God. This is the doctrine of justification and is a central teaching of the gospel.
We talked about how through faith alone in Christ alone is how we receive the gift of salvation and how it is Christ righteousness, no our own, that we are credited with through faith.
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
The believer will stand before God credited with Christ’s righteousness. In the gospel, and on the cross, Christ takes our guilt and our debt, and imputes (transfers) His righteousness to us.
Christ is our substitute both in the sinless, righteous, life he lived, and also our substitute in His death. He died in our place but also lived in our place.
In verses 10-16 Paul shifts from looking back to the cross, and back from his conversion and looks forward. He looks forward to what lies ahead.
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
I mentioned earlier in our study that I believe Paul expected to be with the Lord soon and there is an emotional weight to this letter that I believe is unique.
Paul had no shortage of persecution throughout the years in his ministry throughout Asia and Europe. The nearness of death was something that surely weighed on Paul’s mind on a daily basis. Perhaps Paul had a more imminent sense of his death.
How much did that effect Paul’s thinking, I don’t know, but the amount of ground he covered would do anything to suggest he didn’t hide, no, he pushed on always.
Introduction to What Lies Ahead
Introduction to What Lies Ahead
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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.
This section in Philippians is one of Paul’s most intimate portions of the New Testament. His relationship with Christ was of supreme value. He treasured Christ above all.
Philippians 3:i8
8 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
Knowing Christ was worth the loss of all things. And we could say that gaining Christ required the loss of all things. Anything that stood between him and union with Christ is counted as rubbish the forsaken or lost.
To receive Christ it to turn from everything that is in opposition to Christ. Christ isn’t just an upgrade to our lives. He isn’t an accessory. He is Lord and He has preeminence over all things.
To be converted to Christ requires repentance.
Easton’s Bible Dictionary Repentance
REPENTANCE—There are three Greek words used in the New Testament to denote repentance. (1.) The verb metamelomai is used of a change of mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used with reference to the repentance of Judas (Matt. 27:3).
(2.) Metanoeo, meaning to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge. This verb, with (3.) the cognate noun metanoia, is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised.
Evangelical repentance consists of (1) a true sense of one’s own guilt and sinfulness; (2) an apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ; (3) an actual hatred of sin (Ps. 119:128; Job 42:5, 6; 2 Cor. 7:10) and turning from it to God; and (4) a persistent endeavour after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of his commandments.
The true penitent is conscious of guilt (Ps. 51:4, 9), of pollution (51:5, 7, 10), and of helplessness (51:11; 109:21, 22). Thus he apprehends himself to be just what God has always seen him to be and declares him to be. But repentance comprehends not only such a sense of sin, but also an apprehension of mercy, without which there can be no true repentance (Ps. 51:1; 130:4).
True repentance is no small thing, and as we just read, it begins in the mind. It’s an internal transformation of thought. It brings a whole new disposition. One’s will is changed. Your affections and desires are changed.
Verses 7-11 is a real life illustration of Paul’s repentance.
Question: Have you repented?
Have we seen God in such a way, and conversely ourselves, that we have turned to Him and turned from anything that is in opposition to Him?
As we’ve said, we are saved, or justified, by faith alone, in Christ alone. So why now am I adding repentance?
True biblical faith, that faith that saves us, includes repentance. It’s really 2 sides of the same coin. One can’t truly trust Jesus and trust ourselves, our sin, and our unholy desires. They don’t go together.
Think of faith and repentance as an ‘about face’.
Union with Christ (Vv 10-11)
Union with Christ (Vv 10-11)
When I say union with Christ what I mean and what I’m referring to is our oneness. We are to be conformed to His image and that’s what I mean. Our union with Him is our identification with Him. We find our identities in Christ and thus live as such. Think of a marriage, it is a union. It’s a coming together.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Verse 10 - Paul says “that I may know Him”
We’ve mentioned before but this ‘knowing’ is more than just intellectual awareness. It is an intimate relationship, or a very close relationship. To know someone is different than just knowing about someone.
This is Paul’s most passionate longing (1:20–23); he speaks not merely of greater mental awareness, but of deepened personal union. The following two clauses explain how knowing Christ is presently experienced.
He points out the efficacy and nature of faith—that it is the knowledge of Christ, and that, too, not bare or indistinct, but in such a manner that the power of his resurrection is felt
Question: What does it mean to know the power of Christ’s resurrection?
As stated,the resurrection of Christ was an act of God’s power. It was a display of God’s power. So how do we know the power of His resurrection in practical ways? What does this look like in everyday life?
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
galations 2:21
galatians 2:20
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Our lives, if we are in Christ and have been crucified with Him as Paul puts it, are a display of God’s resurrecting power. We know the power of Christ’s resurrection, and experience it, by living transformed lives.
Think about baptism, what is displayed or portrayed in the believers baptism? It’s a picture of dying, being buried, and then resurrected to newness of life. And the public display of this is really an announcement of our union with Christ.
Our everyday lives are to be a display of a resurrected life. We haven’t experienced a physical/bodily resurrection yet, which Paul clarifies that in just a few verses, but spiritually we have been raised to newness of life.
So we can know Christ deeper through living transformed lives, lives of suffering for His sake.
Share his sufferings -
the fellowship of his sufferings—by identification with Him in His sufferings and death, by imputation; also, in actually bearing the cross whatever is laid on us, after His example, and so “filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” (Col 1:24); and in the will to bear aught for His sake (Mt 10:38; 16:24; 2 Ti 2:11). As He bore all our sufferings (Is 53:4), so we participate in His
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
Filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions doesn’t mean Christ’s redemptive work wasn’t complete but indicates how the church lives out and share’s in Christ’s afflictions before the watching world.
Paul does not mean that Christ’s atoning accomplishment on the cross is deficient in some respect. Rather, because the church is called to suffer for and with Christ (2 Cor. 4:7–12; 1 Thess. 3:2–4), there is a divinely appointed requisite of suffering to be endured by Christians, particularly as they, like Paul, carry the news of Christ’s reconciling work to others.
Paul describes this as though it is a requirement doesn’t he? It’s really an illustration of post-conversion christian experience. Knowing Christ and suffering for His sake.
Pressing on Toward the Goal (Vv 12-14)
Pressing on Toward the Goal (Vv 12-14)
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect..
Again Paul clarifies that He hasn’t yet experienced a physical resurrection nor obtained a status of perfection but is indicating that is what motivates him.
I press on to make it my own
The word translated press on here means to pursue. Paul is actively, fervently, pursuing both Christ Himself, and Christ-likeness. The picture here is a race. Paul see’s the finish line and is sprinting towards it.
This is an important picture of the life of a Christian and honestly it’s very convicting.
Question: Is this our mindset? Would we describe our own lives this way?
Are we sprinting to Christ and Christ-likeness? I think if we are honest we would probably say no. But we need to ask ourselves this question. Paul was motivated.
When Christ is truly our treasure we think and live this way.
Paul says he does so because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Paul never fails to attribute all the glory to Christ. All this, he is saying, is because Christ has saved him. This is the power of the resurrection and the transforming power of God’s grace.
God’s grace and mercy towards us changes us. It serves to motivate and humble us. Grace doesn’t give us license to sin but changes us and empowers us to live a life pleasing to God, by faith, and with gratitude.
Grace can’t encourage us to keep living in sin, not if we understand that God is holy.
Verse 13
Paul again reassures them that he has not arrived at perfection yet.
Read from Let’s Study Philippians page 85 “An important confession.”
Paul’s pursuit of perfection is contrast with his not yet achieving it as he goes on to state But one thing I do...
Again, think of a race. Do the participants in the race usually slow down when the finish line is in sight? No, they pick up the pace and usually move to a sprint. So it should be with us.
Paul uses words like straining, which means stretching out. He’s stretching out for the finish line, not looking back.
62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We are to be looking forward. Looking to be with Christ and be without sin.
Paul uses a lot of verbs in this passage to describe his life purpose.
10 - knowing, sharing, becoming like Him
11 - attaining
12- obtaining, pressing
13- straining
14- pressing
So again, is this our mindset? Our we motivated like Paul and by Paul’s pursuit of Christ and Christ-likeness? it is Paul’s intent here to motivate the Philippians and us.
Verse 14 - The prize or finish line
Being with Christ is the ultimate goal for us. Jesus is the end of all of our pursuits.
A Call to like-mindedness (Vv 15-16)
A Call to like-mindedness (Vv 15-16)
philippians 3:15-16
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.
The word here that is translated mature(ESV)is the same word in a slightly different form translated as perfect in verse 12. I think Paul is speaking here somewhat ironically.
In verse 12 Paul states not that I am already perfect, than here says those of us who are mature or perfect, think this way.
I think there may be some sanctified sarcasm here. I believe Paul is still addressing the false teachers by this statement.
JM - “mature. Since the spiritual perfection of Christlikeness is possible only when the believer receives the upward call, Paul is referring here to mature spirituality. He could be referring to the mature believers who were like- minded with him in this pursuit or he may also have used "mature" here to refer sarcastically to the Judaizers, who thought they had reached perfection.”
ESV MaCarthur Study Bible
Verse 16 tells us to hold true to what we have attained. Hold true really means to stay in line and carries the idea of following. He’s saying let’s stay on the path in accordance with what we have already attained. It was used to describe marching in the manner of a military.
So to continue progressing towards Christ and perfection, we must stay on course. We must continue pressing, and straining.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So in conclusion I want to look back to verse 13.
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,
Paul was focused on what lied ahead. I think this is important for us to consider.
What value is there in looking backwards? Certainly we know our past sins and we want to truly turn from those so we must be aware of what our weaknesses are.
But in a very real sense we need to have short term memories. We can easily become paralyzed in looking back. Paul says ‘forgetting’ what lied behind’. It is to put it out of your mind.
If we are to strain, and press forward as Paul was we need to stay focused on the prize.
Again, think in the context of a race. What will happen to the runner if he spends most of his time looking backwards?
In horse racing they actually put blinders on the horses to prevent them from getting distracted and looking anywhere other than forward. We need to spiritually do the same.