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Pressing toward the Goal
Opening remarks...
Sports camp and other announcements,
Ladies Bible Study
Prayer List.
So remember when we ended two weeks ago.
Paul said He longed for or looked forward to the opportunity, the joy of knowing and walking in Christ in power way… verses 10-11
And so the thought continues with the next passage in the chapter, lets look at verses 12-16....
Verses 12-16...
So Paul begins here by expressing his imperfection, he certainly hadn’t obtained perfection yet… He says or expresses this 3 times in the whole passage, listen to what He is saying in this one verse.....
Paul wanted to be pure and blameless, conforming his Life to be like the life at Christ, so that he is pure, holy and able to be identified with Christ at death.
This would enable him to obtain the resurrection at a future date,.
Not because he has worked, but because he was loved by Christ
But he presses on to make it His own, literally He desires to know Jesus perfectly.
So Paul wanted to be pure and blameless, conforming his Life to be like the life at Christ, so that he is pure, holy and able to be identified with Christ at death.
Again, He is expressing He hasn’t made it yet, The very thing he wants to obtain when He says ...”I do not consider that I have made it my own...” Why???
It hasn’t happened yet.
You see in the first century there was a heresy that the resurrection had already taken place..
So what does he say.... “But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead...”
Paul’s goal is given..
He echos those words from very 12 “press on” and now uses straining forward … and here Paul says two things..
First “forgetting what is behind” so instead of looking behind, his new orientation wasn’t behind but forward… The old days of his life were gone.
He didn’t even consider it any longer...
Listen nostalgia can be good, thinking about time with family, old past historic days in our country.
But you cannot live there anymore because it was past.
The good ole days could paralyze you in terms of living the way God wants you to today.
Instead Second Paul looks to the future like everyday was an adventure... he was “straining toward what is ahead.”
This word continues the athletic metaphor.
It is particularly graphic, bringing to mind the straining muscles, clear focus, and complete dedication of the runner in his race to the prize.
Both mental and physical discipline were necessary.
Consider this … What is the future for the church.
Its to keep pushing forward.
So lets keep looking what is the call of verse 14
Here is what his (Paul’s) true focus is.... wow
The goal is the heavenward call of Jesus christ, it is running until you reach the finish line, That is the goal, the marker by which a person moves forward too.
You’ve seen runners and as they come to the line, they strain, push forward to come across the line first.
For Paul, He was modeling his life after the model provided in Christ who demonstrated both obedience unto death and the resurrection.
The prize is explained as the heavenward call.
It beings at the moment of Salvation.
Not just the idea we strive for later in life, it is the prize we start looking for right off the bat.
One author said..
The joy of the process kept him going, but he realized that the ultimate joy was the completion of God’s work in his life.
So Paul moves to encourage other believers… Look at verses 15-16
So the church was to value this way or idea.
But Paul classifies this
Paul uses the word mature, what does that mean?
Paul was addressing a church who were struggling in some areas that should be mature in their thinking.
So the wording I think reminds them of this very thing.
Quit messing around with trival things is the idea behind it.
Let look forward.
to the end, strive for it.
Think of todays world, Churches get lost, denominations get lost and they miss sight of the most important thing… People coming to faith in Christ.
2. So he says at the end of verse 15, If you aren’t there yet, if you hold
some other opinion, well your wrong.
God will correct you soon
enough.
Through the course of time, God would make it right
And then with verse 16
This is an exhortation… The believers were to remain steadfast.
When you have come to the point, when you have grown in your faith, don’t go backwards.
The phrase “...to let us hold too or live up too”.. has a corrective tone to it, Don’t leave the orderly way you have learned to walk.
Be true, be steadfast, keep putting first what is first.
Now verses 17-21 is the last portion of this passage...
So in this passage Paul is continuing to warn the church about false teachers.
These false teachers were not true believers, they are non Christians.
Now that might sound harsh, but if you do not live right, teach right, do right then you probably not right...
Now if you remember in chapter 2, Paul called for the church to imitate Christ, here he urged them to imitate him.
It is not bad for him to say that, I think he could say that because he is an apostle, don’t forget that...
But let me share three passages that speak to him calling others to imitate him.
It may seem awkward to us but there was no egotism in Paul’s life.
and then
______________________________
2 reasons why we can say there was no egotism
1. Paul knows they will follow other Christian examples.
It would be like us following after Billy Graham, E.J. Daniels, J. Harold Smith, etc...
2. Secondly, Paul often reminded them to copy him, Paul was like here is my experience, so do likewise...
Bu tlook at the second part of verse 17
Paul urged them to imitate others who were like minded...
The Philippians were to have the live of other in their sights or to make living like them their aim
Why would he say that… remember he is not there with them, he is in prison, so he is urging them to find other true believers.
Now verse 18...
Paul here will begin to deliver his final blow against those false teachers.
And there is some emotion in his words...
He says I am telling you this with tears…
Remember he has had to make repeated warnings about these false teachers.
Most like they were people who once followed Paul and he is heartbroken because they fell away and now are enticing others away as well.
He now calls them enemies of the cross.
Now this has a lot of meaning to it, it seems to mean from what we understand that they must have refused to accept the cross as God’s way of reconciliation.
, and now they actively oppose it and are hindering others.
Paul cherished the cross.
But Paul must as we be opposed to teach any other different gospel.
V 19
Paul exposed these teachers by revealing their characteristics.
4 statements explain their theology and conscience....
The eternal destiination… their end is destruction.
a child of hell.
their god is their belly … Most likely there was a Jewish element to them, demanding kosher foods when God had made all things clean.
Glory in their shame… most likely preoccupied with works of the flesh, circumcision.
They focus on their genitals which should have been a private matter
Mind set on earthly things… One person said they could not see beyond this time to eternity, they were more occupied on the here in stead of the Kingdom and its work.
There mindset was off in every direction my friends...
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