Looking Ahead

Brandt Lyon

Philippians: A Letter of Encouragement • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

Philippians 3:12–16

Endurance

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He Makes All Things New: Looking Ahead

Philippians 3:12-16

I. Introduction

A. 2003 Papa John’s Ten Miler. I ran beside a lady who had not trained for the event. She simply stated, “I just want the T-shirt.”. I had trained for months and worked hard to get to that point. In the end, whether I had run hard the whole way while she walked it out, we both had the same T-shirt. But there is a difference.

II. Press On (12)

A. Exegesis

1. Context is what he says in the previous verses

a) Knowing Him and the power of His resurrection

b) Becoming like Him in His death

c) Attaining the resurrection of the dead

2. He hasn’t obtained everything yet – There is so much more to come

3. Paul sees what He still lacks and realizes that Christ-likeness is a process that will only be fully realized when His kingdom fully comes

4. But he presses on to make it his own

a) All of the things above and perfection in Christ

b) To press on is to pursue –

(1) He is pursuing the perfection of Christ to make it his own

(2) To set in rapid motion

c) Katalambano (Make it my own) – To make something one’s own, to win or attain. to gain control of someone through pursuit, catch up with, seize

5. The reason – because Christ Jesus has made me His own

a) Gratitude – He is thankful for what Christ has done for Him

b) He has been transferred to being the property of Satan and the world, but Christ has made him His own

B. Application

1. It is OK to be imperfect

a) Many people in churches today try to give the impression that they have arrived spiritually. It is not true and don’t be intimidated by them

b) We should all recognize that we aren’t there yet and continue to press on

c) We have been captured by Christ, now we press on to capture knowing Him and becoming like Him

2. We are on a path of Christlikeness and it should become our life’s pursuit

3. We are always pursuing our passion – Is Christ your passion?

III. Strain forward (13)

A. Exegesis

1. Restates that he has not made it his own

2. But, He forgets what lies behind

a) His sin

b) His credentials

c) His legalism

d) Everything that kept Him from Christ before

3. Straining forward to what lies ahead

a) It means to stretch towards

b) It is literally to strive ahead with effort to get to the goal

c) Like when the runner puts his chest out at the end of a race trying to get to the goal

B. Application

1. So often we are not able to move forward because we are too busy looking back

a) For some, you look fondly to the old life of sin and it keeps you from growing in Christ

b) For others, you are looking behind you to see the guilt and shame you and you cannot look forward and keep running while you do so

2. The worst thing that a runner can do is to look back to see where His opponent is or to see what he has already passed

3. We cannot be looking behind if we are to keep running towards Christ-likeness

4. We must always be looking directly at Him and not waiver in our attention

IV. Run for the prize (14)

A. Exegesis

1. He presses toward the goal – the forward direction

2. The prize is always before him

a) The upward call of God in Christ Jesus

b) This is a heavenly reward

c) It is speaking of the presence of Christ

d) He is talking about spiritual completion and finally, fully attaining those things that he strives for

3. The prize is what continues to drive Paul

B. Application

1. How often have you meditated on the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus?

2. We need to have an eternal perspective

3. Illustration – I had a hard time getting through high school. I often forgot the purpose of being a student, mainly because I knew that if I would just go through the motions I would eventually graduate. When I went to college graduation wasn’t a certainty. I began to see my diploma as something that was far away, but I had to keep my eyes on it, or I wouldn’t attain it. Many of you will never know the thrill of growing in Christlikeness because the goal is not something that you are pressing towards

V. Live your faith (15-16)

A. Exegesis

1. Paul links pressing toward the goal with Christian maturity

2. Those who belong to Christ may not immediately recognize this truth, but they will

3. Paul says that they are to hold true to what they have attained

4. Intentionality – Hold true

a) Holding is me trying to not let go of something – clinging to it

b) Hold TRUE – Staying faithful to it

5. What we have attained – salvation through Jesus Christ

B. Application

1. We must live out what we profess to Be true

2. We are to hang on tightly to what we say we believe

3. Romans 8:28 – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose

VI. Conclusion

Possible introduction – Jesus Flavored or Jesus Filled?

[The label on the bottle said:] "Blueberry Pomegranate, 100 percent juice, all natural."

[There was also a picture of] a ripe pomegranate [spilling] its exotic, glistening seeds onto mounds of fat, perfect blueberries. …

And then I read the ingredients list: "Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate." Where was the blueberry? Where was the pomegranate? Finally I found them, fifth and seventh on a list of nine ingredients, after mysteriously unspecified "natural flavors."

By law, food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. That means a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list and successively less of those farther down. So according to this list, the jug in my hand held mostly water and other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color.

In the bottom corner of the front label, in small, easy-to-miss type, were the tell-tale words: "Flavored juice blend with other natural ingredients." The enticing pictures and clever labeling were decoys to sell a diluted, blueberry-pomegranate flavored product, convincingly disguised to look like something it wasn't. I put the juice back on the shelf.

I left the store empty-handed and wondering, What if I had an ingredients list printed on me? Would Jesus be the main ingredient? If not, how far down the list would he be? Would my "label" accurately represent my contents? Or would I falsely project a misleading outward appearance that cleverly masked diluted ingredients? My packaging may be convincing. I may look and sound like the real thing. But what if someone came to me looking for Jesus beneath my "Christian" label and found something else? Something Jesus-flavored, but not Jesus-filled? …

Malcolm Muggeridge on Self-denial

I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die. For these two discoveries I am beholden to Jesus.

—Malcolm Muggeridge, British journalist, writer, and Christian apologist (1903–1990)

Missionary's Short Life Makes Us Examine Our Lives

Author Randy Alcorn recalled a two-month missions trip that he and his family took some years ago that included a visit to Egypt. While in Egypt, Alcorn's hosts took him to visit an abandoned graveyard located at the end of a garbage-lined alley. The host pointed out one tombstone in particular—that of William Borden (1887-1913), heir to the Borden dairy estate. William was a millionaire by 21, but he renounced his fortune, giving nearly all his wealth to missions. His heart's desire was to take the gospel to Muslims in China. On his way to China, William stopped in Egypt to study Arabic, but four months later he contracted spinal meningitis and died at the age of 25.

Alcorn writes:

I dusted off the inscription on the headstone of Borden's grave. After describing his love for Christ and his commitment to and his love for the Muslim people; and his sacrifices for God's kingdom; the inscription ended with some words I wrote down on the spot—and I have never forgotten them to this day. The inscription ended with, "Apart from faith in Christ there is no explanation for such a life."

Then Alcorn wrote, "And I thought, Lord, what's the explanation for my life?"

Randy Alcorn, "Money and the Disciple," 2004 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors; submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky

Don't Recycle Old Life

In the late 1920s my grandparents married and moved into Grandpa's old family home. It was a clapboard house with a hall down the middle. In the '30s they decided to tear down the old house and build another to be their home for the rest of their lives.

Much to my grandmother's dismay, many of the materials of the old house were re-used in their new house. They used old facings and doors, and many other pieces of the finishing lumber. Everywhere my grandmother looked, she saw that old house—old doors that wouldn't shut properly, crown molding split and riddled with nail holes, unfinished window trimming. It was a source of grief to her. All her life she longed for a new house.

When God brings us into the kingdom, the old way of living must be dismantled and discarded.