Obtaining Perfection
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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,
1. Hope for the “Not Yet”
1. Hope for the “Not Yet”
Not that I have already obtained this...
What has Paul not already obtained?
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.
= Resurrection from the dead; Glorification - fulfillment of salvation
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
ILLUS: Cruise Dislocation
Glorious bodies conformed to His image
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Be like Him
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Doesn’t mean you will be God or a god and rule your own univers
You will have an incorruptible, imperishable body like Christ’s
One that is untainted by sin
One that has right standing before God
One that obeys and yearns for God (no idolatry)
One that is able to worship Him fully!
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ the centerpiece! He is the focus!
He gives us victory NOT over poverty, disease, or any other prosperity gospel agenda = shallow
we have victory over:
Death, because the wrath of God against my sin was poured out on the Son and satisfied in His death
Sin, because Christ died my death and gives me His life
the Law, because Christ fulfilled the law perfectly and gives me that righteousness so when God looks at me He sees me as…righteous, blameless, spotless, cleared!
With that in mind:
2. Live in the “Here Now”
2. Live in the “Here Now”
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Don’t receive a license to sin; rather because of who God is and what He has done (through Christ) we worship and obey
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.
Sanctification - make holy (set apart)
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
how is a person sanctified? In truth which is the Word
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
make them holy in truth = Jesus is truth
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
to be sanctified is to be made like Christ
How do I become more like Christ?
We grow in our faith and we do this by His Word
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Faith grows through the Word
13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Gospel-centered teaching is the first step in making disciples
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
APP: This is the “Here Now”
We hope for the “Not Yet”
Our “Here Now” is to grow in our faith, teach others, share the Gospel