Philippians 3:7–11
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. [1]
So Paul expresses that he has 5 goals:
Goal #1:
To know Christ
~to know him personally
Goal #2:
To know the power of the resurrection
~the power of the resurrected Christ that can be found in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit once we become believers. Paul wants a resurrected life.
Goal #3:
Share in His suffering
In order to share in Christ’s life and in His power we must share in His sufferings.
Goal #4:
Become like Him
Not only does Paul want to become like Him (die to sin) but he wants to daily be willing to die for Him.
Goal #5:
Attain resurrection
Dr. Tom Hale has this to say about this subject in his excellent commentary.
“If we have died with Christ (to sin) we will also rise with Him to live a new life. Just as Christ had to die to be resurrected we must die to sin in order to rise to new life in Him. In order to live a new life, our old sinful self must first be put to death, it must be put off (Ephesians 4:22-24). Then in place of the old self, we need a new mind and heart, a new spiritual self. To be united with Christ in His death means to die with Christ. To die is surely a painful and difficult experience. To give up one’s old life is not easy. Yet Paul makes this promise: If we die with Christ, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Many people acknowledge that Jesus is a great teacher, and the want to live a new life with Him. But they have no interest whatever in dying with Him! We say easily, “I’m a Christian”; but we need to ask ourselves: “Have I died with Christ?” Because if we have not died with Him-that is, if our old sinful self has not been put to death-we cannot receive new life in Him. And if we have not received new life in Him, how can we then say we are Christians?”
How then to die to self and pursue the holiness of Christ?
Paul likens the Christian life to a race. In my Bible the next section verses 12 and following is subtitled, “Pressing on toward the Goal.”
If our goals are to know Christ, know His power, share in His suffering, become like Him and attain resurrection, we need to go into training. Not that attaining resurrection can be earned or worked for. It is the consequence of a life surrendered to Jesus and lived for Him
So how does one train for a race?
Read 12-14.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Warren Wiersbe has given 5 “d”s to emphasize this section of scripture. The first “D” is:
1. Dissatisfaction:
Paul recognizes that he isn’t there yet. He isn’t satisfied spiritually, he isn’t complacent, not resting on past accomplishments or conversions or persecutions or imprisonments. He doesn’t compare himself with others, he compares himself with Christ and because of that he knows that he has further to go.
The mature Christian knows that the Holy Spirit is faithful to point out areas where growth is needed. But in order for that to happen you must stay in the Word.
The second “D” necessary for training is devotion.
2. Devotion:
“This one thing I do”
He recognizes the need to focus in on what is important in his own particular race….this one thing I do. Paul has learned the importance of specializing. He is very intentional about where and how he spends his time and effort.
In an athlete’s life they specialize. They aren’t concerned with being well rounded.
Tiger Woods is concerned with his golf game, not how good he is from the foul line in basketball.
A cellist is focused on her instrument, not whether or not she can play a violin concerto,
A teacher of history becomes proficient in history and forgets what math she may have learned.
The believer must focus on running the Christian race. Like Nehemiah when they were rebuilding the wall said, I am rebuilding the wall, I cannot come down.
And James 1:8 says that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Hebrews 12:1-3
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
In these passages we hear words like throw off and run with perseverance, we hear Paul say straining toward what is ahead. He presses on…
Dr. Hale has this to say,
“Paul is not a passive Christian; he is actively-strenuously-pursuing the goal of becoming like Christ. Many Christians are confused about this point. They say: “Everything is by God’s grace. Not only is our justification by God’s grace, but also our sanctification. Just as fruit ripens on a tree, so will we become like Christ. We don’t need to strive and struggle.” In saying this, Christians are in part correct. It is indeed correct to say that all is by grace, and that we do not need to strive and struggle on our own strength. However, there is another side to the truth-a side which Paul presents in these verses. Men are not quite like fruit on a tree. Fruits submit naturally to the ripening process; men do not. Men must actively submit to God and obey Him; they must actively throw off everything that hinders…and run with perseverance the race marked for them. The Christian life is a race and we must run it. No one ever won a race by sitting on the sideline.”
The third necessity of training is:
3. Direction:
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”
The unsaved person could be controlled by the past, but the Christian running the race looks toward the future. How many a race has been lost when the athlete/runner looks back to see how he/she is doing.
This is one of the reasons blinders are put on racehorses; so that they maintain their direction.
The word, “forget” here does not mean, fail to remember. To forget in the Bible means “no longer influenced by or affected by.”
When God promises,
“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 10:17),
He is not suggesting that He will conveniently have a bad memory; He is saying that I will no longer hold their sins against them. Their sins can no longer affect their standing with me or influence my attitude toward them.
So forgetting what is behind means that we break the power of the past by living for the future.
We cannot change the past, but we can change the meaning of the past.
You know there were things in Paul’s past that could have disabled him but he didn’t allow that to happen.
Too many Christians are shackled with regrets of the past. They are trying to run the race by looking backward! No wonder they stumble and fall. Some Christian runners are even distracted by past successes and live on the laurels of the past. The danger is that they stop running the race in the present.
It is possible to have dissatisfaction, devotion and direction and still lose the race and the reward. The fourth is essential.
4. Determination:
“straining toward what is ahead” I press on”
I
I press on, the same verb is translated “I follow after”
It gives the idea of intense endeavor.
No one wins a race by reading about running or watching training videos. No one wins a race by reading books of others that have run successful races and gone onto victory. The only way you win a race is by training with determination and focus and then:
Get into the race.
5. Discipline:
Every athlete knows that you need to go into strict training before competition. There are rules that must be followed. We have all heard of athletes that win competitions but then are disqualified for the prize because some rules of the game have been broken.
We also have game rules to follow. We also could be disqualified for the prize. Not to lose our salvation, but to lose the prizes that will be awarded in heaven for the life lived in this body.
I just want to make a few comments about the remainder of this chapter:
17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends! [2]
We are to remember that we are examples to those around us. Just as Paul was an example to the Philippians, so we are examples to a watching world. (Saved and Unsaved)
Paul is so connected to Christ that he is broken hearted for the lost; “the enemies of the cross of Christ.”
He goes on to describe what that looks like:
Destiny is destruction~
~not just eternal destruction but earthly destruction as well.
God is their stomach
~they are concerned with pleasing their senses, not just with food but with anything else that pleases them: sensual pleasures, they serve their own desires and appetites.
“If it feels good do it.”
Glory is in their shame
Bragging about their sinful exploits
“I got so wasted last night”
Bragging about sexual exploits
Their mind is on earthly things
If they have no hope for heaven then they are trying to make this heaven on earth and that is what they are pursuing.
Summary:
What are you pursuing?
~is your mind set on things of God or things of this world?
Have you entered the race or are you sitting on the sidelines?
~reading books about the Christian life or focused on knowing God?
Have you gone into training or waiting until you have more time?
(Today is the day of salvation)
Are you willing to surrender it all?
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot
Have you died with Christ so that you can live fully with Him?
