The Quest for Maturity

Introduction:

Good morning and welcome again to this gathering of Hope Bible Fellowship. I’m Pastor Cal and I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3. We have been walking steadily through this letter from the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi and looking intently at what he was communicating to them and what it says about partnering together in the gospel. It’s been a really great series for me. Lord willing, we will finish up with Philippians on February 20th and then move into our next series which is going to be a short series dealing with Stewardship. I’m pretty excited for the days ahead. Now, how many of you remember the Boston marathon bombing that took place back in 2013? It’s amazing to think it was that long ago. 9 years. Crazy. Well this week I read an account of the following year and I wanted to share it with you today as an intro to what I’m going to be speaking about.

On April 19, 2014, more than 36,000 runners hit the pavement for the 118th Boston Marathon. Following the tragic events of the bombings at the previous year’s race, in which three people were killed and many were wounded, this particular race was filled with emotion. And in storybook form, the winner added even more drama. For the first time since 1983, an American won the race. At age 38, he became the oldest person to win the race in 83 years. With the names of the victims killed in the previous year’s violent attack written on the corner of his bib, Meb Keflezighi crossed the finish line in first place. As he crossed the line, people in the crowd were going crazy, many chanting, “USA” He lifted his hands upward with joy and triumph. It’s hard to watch the highlights without being moved to tears by the dramatic scene.

- Originally from: Tony Merida and Francis Chan, Exalting Jesus in Philippians, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016), Php 3:12–21.

As we get into our passage for today, Philippians 3:12-21, we are going to see Paul use a running analogy to describe living the Christian life. He uses this athletic imagery with the Philippians because of their proximity to Greece. They would have been familiar with the Grecian games. I thought that was appropriate since we currently have the Olympics going on today. Of course I am pretty sure they didn’t have snowboarding or figure skating in the Grecian games back then.

Let’s go to the Word of the Lord and see what He has for us today.

READ:

Philippians 3:12–21 ESV

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. 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. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 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.

This is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand.

PRAY

In this stage of Paul’s ministry and with his current predicament, one might think that he would be stagnant in his faith or might be sort of slowing down. But if anything, he’s actually intensifying how he talks about his faith.

First, Paul admits his own imperfection.

I. Paul’s admission of his own imperfection.

I want you to see Paul’s humility here. As in last week’s passage, if anyone had grounds for boasting it would be Paul. He was a missionary and church planter and had close relationships with these people. Yet, instead of boasting in all of that or claiming some importance for himself, he instead says he’s not perfect. He knows that he is not a finished work… yet. He knows that the one who started this good work in him is faithful to bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ, but he acknowledges that he’s not there yet. As we read this, let’s breathe a bit of a sigh of relief. You may be out there trying to be perfect and getting really discouraged because it doesn’t work and you find yourself still falling into sin. Let me encourage you that the Apostle Paul knew he wasn’t perfect yet. He wasn’t done yet. God was not done working on Paul. He’s not done working on you either. So relax for a minute. There was only one perfect man ever and they hung Him on a cross. Paul knew this.

The Greek word teleoo (long o) can refer to being perfected, being completed, or reaching a goal. So it’s something that is in process but not completed yet. Think about last week when we talked about sanctification as a lifelong journey from the point of believing the gospel and repenting of your sins until you are in the ground or Jesus comes back. It’s a process.

It’s okay to not be okay. But… it’s not okay to stay that way. As we will see, Paul pressed forward in the gospel.

II. Paul presses on.

Here is where that athletic imagery I mentioned earlier comes into play. Paul says there’s one thing he does. Even though he knows he isn’t there yet and that perfection isn’t his yet, he says this is the one thing he does:

- Let’s break it down into parts:

- Forgetting what lies behind

- Straining forward to what lies ahead

- I press on toward the goal

- For the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

First of all, do you see the forward motion in this. There’s an old Christian band named Relient K who wrote a song called “Pressing On” that fits right in with this passage and as I was writing the sermon it was just reverberating in my head.

Part of the lyrics read:

“Somewhere back there, I left my worries all behind My problems fell out of the back of my mind We're going and I'm never knowing Never knowing where we're going To go back to where I was would just be wrong

I'm pressing on Pressing on, all my distress is going, going, gone Pressing on, pressing on And I won't sit back, and take this anymore 'Cause I'm done with that I've got one foot out the door And to go back where I was would just be wrong I'm pressing on”

Paul says he’s forgetting what is behind. He’s not going to get caught up in his former place or all of the stuff that was true of him back when. He’s moving forward. He’s pressing on. He’s not going to let that stuff get the best of him and distract him from the goal of where he’s going. In a race you don’t want to turn and look back, you want to press ahead. It’s kind of funny because Relient K had another song called Forward Motion that had a line, “I struggle with forward motion.” We all struggle with forward motion. We know it. Paul knew it. Jesus knows it. And we are called forward to step forward in faith, trusting Jesus, taking Him at His Word and being the people that He has lined out for us in His Word. Too many of us are all caught up in what God’s big huge plan is for your life and you have missed out on simply making forward motion in your relationship with Him everyday. Or maybe it’s just me.

The upward call that Paul is writing about is that ultimate call home. It’s like a referee or a judge in the Olympics calling the winner to the podium or platform so he can recieve his prize.

In verse 15, when Paul uses the word mature, that is translated from the same root word as in verse 12 which literally taken means “perfect”. This use may suggest that Paul was also addressing those false teachers we spoke of last week who claimed they already had perfection. When he says to “think this way” he’s saying value. It’s what they value.

In verse 16 when Paul tells them to “hold true to what we have attained”, it’s that which has brought previous success in Christian living. So that which you have been taught and which has proven itself in maturing you in Christ, hold true to that. This other stuff that these people are adding to it, throw that stuff away. Hold to what is true and what you have known to be true.

Ultimately Paul presses on because Christ had made him His own. You see this clear back at the beginning in verse 12.

Philippians 3:12 ESV

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.

Paul knew the score. He knew that he was not perfect. He knew that the playing field is level. We are all sinners. We have sin. Not that we simply do sin but that we have a very sin nature that separates us from a holy God. And because God must justly punish sin and pour His wrath upon it, we are rightfully and justly due the wrath of God. We deserve it. But God is also love. So He made a way that would satisfy both his holy judgement on sin and His great love for us, His creation. He sent Jesus, His only son. 100 percent God and 100 percent man to earth. He lived with no sin. He was perfection incarnate. He was that perfect life that we couldn't live. And He gave it up on the cross, dying a death that you and I deserve and experiencing the wrath of God poured out upon our sin. The scriptures tell us that He took our sin upon Himself and in turn offers us His righteousness. The Word of God calls us to repent of our sin and believe this good news that Jesus died as substitute for us. In our place for our sin, he died. And three days later He rose from the grave by the power of God. And that was proof that the sacrifice worked. God was pleased and we could know God and live in relationship with Him for eternity.

This is why Paul pressed on. He knew that Jesus had made him His own.

Has Jesus made you His own?

Press on in Him.

Paul’s ultimate goal is knowing Christ’s resurrection power and dwelling with Him in eternity. And he doesn’t want to let anything get in the way of that.

III. Paul encourages imitating true believers.

Paul reveals here that he was confident that he lived correctly before God and man. He urges the Philippians, who he was close to and had a relationship with, to imitate him. When you have a good example of someone who follows the Lord faithfully and loves Jesus then watch them and do what they do. Imitate what you see in them. I’m guessing most of us have someone who we look up to as a really mature follower of Jesus and we want to be like them and have that kind of relationship with the Lord. So do what they do, as long as they are faithful to the Lord. You’ll see in them not perfection but the daily pressing on, repenting of their sin when they fall, and continual returning to the Lord. So imitate true believers who are worth imitating.

Now we need to address verses 18 and 19.

Paul tells them with tears in his eyes that there are those who walk as enemies of the cross. They may not speak like it but their lives show them to be enemies of the cross of Christ. Paul is moved to tears because of the damage these false teachers had done to God’s work. They were leading people astray who followed them.

They were inflated with their own spiritual abilities rather than trusting in Christ. Anytime I see someone who claims to be a preacher or in some kind of ministry and there is more made of them and their “abilities” than that Lord, I just run the other way. And you should too.

I spoke more about these false teachers in last week’s message and I encourage you to go back and listen to it if you missed out. Paul describes these false teachers in four ways.

Their end is destruction. This is eternal judgement for them. They were not simply believing the good news of the gospel but adding other religious requirements to it.

Their god is their stomach - preoccupation with Jewish dietary laws

Their glory is their shame - Their inappropriate focus on the genitals specifically in circumcision.

Focused on earthly things - They were unable to see behind the present times.

I think for most of us the last one can be incredibly difficult. I don’t want to be someone who can’t see beyond what’s happening today. Paul though, pressed on toward the goal and encouraged the Philippians and us as well to do the same.

And he does this by reminding them and us of our true citizenship.

IV. Paul reminds them of their true citizenship

In the world back them citizenship was rare and it was prized because of what it afforded you. The people of Philippi were proud of their Roman citizenship.

But Paul reminds them of thier membership in a greater society than Rome and a greater culture than Rome. Paul continues to use some military images as he has before here. Let’s just reread these two verses; 20 and 21.

Philippians 3:20–21 ESV

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 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.

Roman citizens called the emperor their “savior”. As Christians the Philippians were not to serve any savior but the true Savior from heaven. Their deliverer would not come at the head of the Roman army but from heaven.

When Christ returns, He will change our lowly bodies in our all their finiteness, their frailty, their sin, their humble condition, into the likeness of His glorious body. Our physical bodies become glorified bodies in the image of Christ. What a day that will be!

It calls our minds back to the three stages of salvation that we talked about last week.

Justification - Whereby through Jesus’s death on the cross, He makes it as if we had always obeyed. This is the point of salvation where our eternity is sealed with Him.

Sanctification - That lifelong journey of becoming more and more like Jesus through discipleship and spiritual growth from the point of conversion till death or the return of Jesus.

Glorification - This is that glorious day that Paul is talking about when we will be changed and all will be set right and God will wipe out the effects of sin. It’s going to be so awesome.

Conclusion (ask musicians to come forward)

This message has been titled The Quest for Maturity. We’re wanting to mature in our faith. Paul takes the Philippians through what has been broken down by another pastor as the five challenges for growing in maturity. I want to restate these for you and then challenge you to seek God about where you’re at with Him and within these steps along the journey of sanctification.

1. Have humility in acknowledging that you have not arrived. Don’t just say it but actually know it and believe it. You’re not there yet. But God’s not done with you either.

2, Make it your passion to pursue knowing Christ greater. DO the things that help you grow in your knowledge of Christ… Not just head knowledge but knowing Him. This will involve spending time with Him in His Word and in prayer. This will involve being actively involved as a member of this local church.

3. Don’t lose the wonder of the gospel. Never let it just become news. Always let it be GOOD NEWS! Wonder at it. Preach it to yourself and sit and stare at the good news in amazement and wonder. God could have left you in your sin and He would have been just as holy and righteous had He done so. But He didn’t leave you there. Be amazed. Wonder at the gospel.

4. Find cross-centered, heavenly minded examples and follow them.

5. Let everything you do in your life be done in light of your true citizenry as a citizen of Heaven. If you are a part of the kingdom of God then you live at the pleasure of your King. Are you submitted and obedient or are you kicking against His commands in scripture?

This time is between you and God. Pastor, are you telling me I am supposed to do more? Not really. I’m suggesting that you may need to change what you are doing. But all of your doing does not earn you more favor or failing to do doesn’t earn you less favor with God. If you have been bought with the blood of Christ then that should drive you forward in grace fueled, gospel drenched effort. You’re not going to be perfect this side of eternity. Paul already knew that. But that didn’t stop him from knowing Christ better. Move forward. Trust God with the results. And give yourself a break on the personal beatdowns. Run to Jesus.

PRAY