Philippians 3:12
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Intro
Intro
Think of the best in your field of interest
For me right now, its chess. When you look at the best, its easy to think that they were just born lucky and in a league of their own, unreachable by the common person. But there has never been a “best” that didn’t clock countless hours of practice and dedication to get to that spot.
For the Christian faith, Paul tends to be one of those people that we look up to as “born into a league of their own” and “untouchable”
As we read Paul’s letters, it seems like he has set an almost unreachable standard.
We Are Still Sinners
We Are Still Sinners
The Old Man Has Been Drowned In The Baptism of Christ, But He’s A Good Swimmer
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 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— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Paul has set himself up as a shining example to follow, and it would appear that he is someone that has it all figured out. He says himself that he has a righteousness that comes from Jesus and that he has known the power of the resurrection from the dead.
And it becomes easy for us to look at someone like Paul, who seems to have it all together, and think much less of ourselves and become discouraged that they can be so perfect and we’re just not there yet.
Sometimes we feel this with our parents, with our friends, or with other people at church as well.
When it comes to Sports, some people are legitimately born with a competitive edge (Lebron vs Dom)
However, when it comes to spiritual matters, if someone ever claims perfection or seems perfect, then they’re likely just good at hiding their flaws.
Paul himself, even though he is a great example to us and a faithful man, was open about his own flaws.
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.
We Find Ourselves In a Frustrating Sin Cycle
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Even after becoming a Christian, Paul was not some perfect and holy angel. The struggle against sin remained in Paul and he suffered because of the war within himself, and so do we.
We in the church have done each other a disservice by setting up this weird expectation that we all need to be perfect. These expectations have not made anyone perfect, but have only made us better at hiding our imperfections from each other and even from God.
And this doesn’t excuse our sin or make it any less bad, and that wasn’t what Paul was doing either. But it does remind us that even after we are saved by Jesus initially, there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
Sometimes we think about salvation like it just happens one day and then poof… all better! But that isn’t how God works. God does give us his righteousness and a new heart as a one-time event, but he then works in us through a life-long process called sanctification that makes us more and more holy every day.
that is exactly why Paul says
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.
hasn’t obtained what? Salvation in its fullness! So then why do we sit on our hands like we have obtained something not even the apostle Paul had obtained? Why are we comfortable with only a part of the salvation God is working in us? Why don’t we push and push until we get to experience the fullness of God’s wonderful salvation in our lives? Why are we comfortable claiming the benefits of God’s salvation but living as if we haven’t experienced them?
Application: we need to repent even after we have been saved until we can experience the fullness of life in God.
Christ Has Made Us His Own
Christ Has Made Us His Own
Christ Died So That We Can Be Free Of Our Past (forget that)
Paul was not comfortable with a half-salvation that left him in his sin, and he desperately looked for an escape from his sin.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Paul found the power needed to escape his sin in the person of Jesus Christ.
Christ’s sacrifice for us makes it so that we don’t have to be defined by our past and what we’ve done, but we are made strong enough to break free from it and choose a new path.
The Enemy (Accuser in Greek) will never want us to remember that fact, and he will always make us feel as though our sin is inescapable and that it defines us; and that used to be our reality. But for those of us who know Christ and his power, we have been freed from that!
We have been freed to run from sin and pursue real righteousness
Christ Died So That We Can Be Adopted To His Family (commit to that)
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, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Now that we are freed from our past and the sin that once controlled us, we are free to pursue Jesus Christ with a newfound speed and strength.
This is just like a person who wants to become an excellent basketball player, but has suffered from paralysis their entire lives. One day they wake up and have full control of their body again and a drive to become great, but none of that matters if they don’t hit the gym.
Doctor Strange is a world-class surgeon that lost the use of his hands, and he finds a place called Kamar Taj and a woman called The Anicent One who has mystical powers, and Strange is desparate to learn.
“Even if my hands weren’t broken, how do I get from here to there?
How did you become able to reconstruct a human spine bone by bone?
Hard work and practice, years of it.”
The same is true for us as Christians: Christ has given us a new ability to slay our sin that we have never seen before, but if we want to experience the fullness of salvation then we have to get to work!
We need years of hard work and practice
Studying our word and practicing it every day
Paul used this type of athletic discipline imagery in his letter to the Corinthians
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. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
That Power Is Potent Against Sin
Application: We are not doomed to the punishment of sin, but have hope to see real freedom from it thanks to the work of Christ! Whatever has kept you down doesn’t have the authority to do it any longer if you believe in Christ.
If you have a hard time figuring out what that thing is holding you down, ask God, and he will show it to you
Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Then, ask God for the power to slay it; and expect him to give it to you!
Because Christ Has Made Us His Own, We Can Strive For Unlimited Improvement
Because Christ Has Made Us His Own, We Can Strive For Unlimited Improvement
With This Power, We Can Continually Slay Sin
With This Power, We Are Expected To Slay Sin Now
We Ought To Continually Strive For That Improvement Until God Finishes His Work In Us
Application: Do you desire to see God finish his work in you? Do you want to see the fullness of salvation? Do you want power over your sin, and power to pursue God? Power to leave your past behind and strive forward to better things? We must ask God for these things, and he will provide them to us.
And although we may not have attained perfection,
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
We have not attained perfection, but we have attained an incredible power over sin that frees us to live for Christ. Hold true to that! It is time that we are done living as people that claim to be Christians but live as though we have no power. It is time that we forget about everything that we have left behind and strain forward for the goal that God has made reachable for us by the grace of Jesus Christ.
Looking to God, set your eyes on eternity, and don’t stop running until you get there.