Pastor Nate continues our study through the book of Philippians.
[00:00:00] Alright, good morning church. I love how Janine said we're wanting you to serve in the kids' ministry because it's for you, but we actually do want that from you as well. Thank you.
[00:00:16] Alright, today we're in Philippians chapter 3. We're moving through the book of Philippians, powerful little epistle from Paul the Apostle.
[00:00:24] And today we're in Philippians 3 verse 12 to 21, if you guys would turn there in your Bibles.
[00:00:32] And just to remind you the theme that we've been thinking of as we've been looking at the book of Philippians is not just joy or rejoicing,
[00:00:41] but we've been thinking about it from the angle of here's Paul writing from a prison cell, most likely in Rome,
[00:00:49] thinking about what the city of Philippi and that region needs more than anything from the Philippian church.
[00:00:59] And what he thinks that they need is for the Philippian church to really become an advancing gospel community,
[00:01:06] but they were in danger it seems of focusing inward arguments within the church disunity.
[00:01:14] And so he's urging them towards unity and Christlikeness so that they can become the advancing gospel community that the city of Philippi needed them to be.
[00:01:25] So that's kind of the context of this letter.
[00:01:28] And today we're going to think about how an advancing gospel community craves Christlikeness.
[00:01:33] So let's read the passage together, verse 12, all the way through verse 21.
[00:01:37] Paul writing said, not that I have already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own brothers.
[00:01:51] Verse 13.
[00:01:52] I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do.
[00:01:58] But I'm not saying that I have made it my own, but one thing I do not consider that I have made it my own.
[00:02:04] Let those who are mature think this way.
[00:02:12] And if anything, if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
[00:02:18] Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
[00:02:23] Brothers, verse 17, join in imitating me.
[00:02:28] And keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
[00:02:32] For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears,
[00:02:39] walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
[00:02:42] Their end is destruction.
[00:02:44] Their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with mindset on earthly things.
[00:02:50] But our citizenship is in heaven.
[00:02:53] And from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
[00:02:58] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body
[00:03:03] by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
[00:03:11] All right, let's pray together for our time in this passage.
[00:03:14] Lord, thank you for your word.
[00:03:15] We come to you today.
[00:03:18] We've worshipped you in song.
[00:03:20] We've worshipped you in giving.
[00:03:22] And now we want to worship you in opening our lives up to your word.
[00:03:28] Lord, we want to be directed by you, led by you, shaped by you.
[00:03:32] The very mentality that we discover in all the biblical texts,
[00:03:36] but especially here today in this one,
[00:03:39] we want it to become our mentality, Lord.
[00:03:41] And so by the power of your spirit who knows and searches the deep things of God,
[00:03:46] would you explain the deep things of God to us as we look into your holy word?
[00:03:52] We thank you, Lord.
[00:03:53] We praise you.
[00:03:54] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:03:57] Amen.
[00:04:01] Hers was a special case.
[00:04:03] For 12 long years, she had privately suffered from a draining and debilitating malady.
[00:04:15] Chronic uterine bleeding, terrible in any era, was especially painful in hers
[00:04:22] as it kept her from two great first century blessings.
[00:04:28] Her sickness kept her from bearing children, from growing a family, from being a mother,
[00:04:33] but it also kept her out of the temple as it made her ritually unclean.
[00:04:40] As those 12 years of her life passed,
[00:04:43] the Bible tells us this woman suffered much at the hands of the medical community
[00:04:49] and the ill-informed views of their time,
[00:04:53] throwing herself into poverty to chase healing at any cost.
[00:04:59] But healing never came.
[00:05:01] At the pinnacle of her despair,
[00:05:04] she started to hear whispers of a man named Jesus.
[00:05:07] He was at work in the Galilee and apparently had a healing ministry.
[00:05:12] He was changing people,
[00:05:14] people afflicted with demons, diseases, and disabilities,
[00:05:17] and her hope began to rise.
[00:05:21] As story after story and testimony after testimony
[00:05:24] spread throughout Galilee and into her ears,
[00:05:28] she started to wonder if he was the great physician who could finally heal her.
[00:05:34] And somehow a message began to well up within her,
[00:05:37] a message she preached, however hesitantly, to her own heart.
[00:05:41] If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.
[00:05:46] One day, she heard that Jesus was in her region,
[00:05:51] crossing the waters on his way to her shores.
[00:05:54] She was not the only one who heard,
[00:05:56] but as a great crowd pressed against him,
[00:06:00] she would not be deterred.
[00:06:02] Slowly, steadily, she picked her way through the congregation
[00:06:07] until she arrived at her deliverer.
[00:06:11] Anonymously, she reached out to her hand to touch his garment,
[00:06:15] and when she did, she could feel her body heal.
[00:06:19] She was changed.
[00:06:21] Jesus, having felt divine power released from him,
[00:06:25] began to ask who had touched him.
[00:06:27] The crowd was pressing against him.
[00:06:30] Hundreds had touched him.
[00:06:31] So his disciples challenged his question.
[00:06:35] But as Jesus looked around and waited for a reply,
[00:06:40] the woman realized her story was not hers alone,
[00:06:43] so she came forward and told him the entire tale.
[00:06:47] With love, Jesus replied,
[00:06:51] Daughter, your faith has made you well.
[00:06:54] Go in peace and be healed of your disease.
[00:06:59] I wanted to begin our time in Philippians 3, verse 12 to 21
[00:07:04] with that story from Mark and Luke's gospel
[00:07:09] about the woman healed of her issue or flow of blood
[00:07:13] that she had chronically for 12 years.
[00:07:15] I wanted to begin with that story because to me,
[00:07:18] it encapsulates the mood of Philippians 3, verse 12,
[00:07:23] all the way through verse 21.
[00:07:25] Because in this passage, what Paul is depicting
[00:07:29] is from himself and hoping for the congregation
[00:07:34] that there would be a hunger, a craving,
[00:07:39] an unstoppable desire, an itch
[00:07:43] that can only be fulfilled in Jesus,
[00:07:46] in pursuing, prioritizing, focusing,
[00:07:52] on gaining or attaining increased Christ-likeness
[00:07:58] within our lives.
[00:08:00] Paul, in our passage today, we've already read it,
[00:08:03] but we're going to see that he depicts himself that way.
[00:08:07] I've not attained it, he'll say,
[00:08:09] but I want to attain it, and it is the focus of my life.
[00:08:13] It's the goal, the upward call that I am looking for
[00:08:19] and longing for to become like Jesus.
[00:08:21] And he will tell us,
[00:08:23] this is not just an apostolic attitude.
[00:08:27] You know, those real holy people
[00:08:29] who write books of the Bible,
[00:08:31] they might want Christ-likeness,
[00:08:33] but us mere mortals, we leave that business alone.
[00:08:37] No, Paul is going to tell us
[00:08:38] that anyone who's mature as a Christian
[00:08:41] should think this way, will think this way.
[00:08:45] In fact, he's so confident of this that he says,
[00:08:48] and if you're not convinced,
[00:08:49] I trust that the Spirit of God
[00:08:51] is going to reveal this to you.
[00:08:54] So Paul is embodying a pursuit of Christ-likeness,
[00:08:59] and he's promoting a pursuit of Christ-likeness
[00:09:05] for the church there in Philippi.
[00:09:07] Now, why is this important?
[00:09:08] Well, Paul is thinking about the church in Philippi.
[00:09:11] He wants them to be an advancing gospel community,
[00:09:13] not just for their sake,
[00:09:15] but so that they can be a blessing
[00:09:16] to the community that they live in.
[00:09:18] So in other words,
[00:09:19] the citizens in Philippi
[00:09:21] needed the Philippian church
[00:09:23] to become more like Jesus,
[00:09:25] to become little Jesuses, if you will,
[00:09:28] bringing the love of God
[00:09:30] to a broken and fallen world.
[00:09:33] And so Paul is promoting this craving
[00:09:37] of Christ-likeness within us.
[00:09:42] So today, in this passage,
[00:09:45] I just want to ask a couple of questions of this text.
[00:09:48] And really, all it is is the big question,
[00:09:52] what are the attitudes befitting a community
[00:09:56] that craves Christ-likeness?
[00:09:59] What does it look like for a group of people
[00:10:02] to say we want to be like Jesus?
[00:10:06] All right, what does that craving look like?
[00:10:08] So I'm going to talk to you about three confessions,
[00:10:11] I think, that flow from this text.
[00:10:14] And the first confession is this.
[00:10:15] Number one, an advancing gospel community
[00:10:19] that craves Christ-likeness,
[00:10:22] they confess,
[00:10:23] we want to apprehend it.
[00:10:26] We want to apprehend Christ-likeness.
[00:10:31] Now, this is a little bit of a side B
[00:10:33] of our teaching that we looked at last week,
[00:10:35] because in Philippians 3, verse 1 through 11,
[00:10:38] Paul talked about authentic Christianity,
[00:10:40] what that looks like,
[00:10:41] what it feels like,
[00:10:43] what it isn't,
[00:10:44] what it is.
[00:10:44] And at the end of that passage,
[00:10:46] he announced,
[00:10:48] I want to partake of the resurrection life of Jesus.
[00:10:53] And when he said that,
[00:10:54] he wasn't just talking about a time
[00:10:56] in the distant future
[00:10:57] when he would die
[00:10:58] or when Christ would return
[00:10:59] and he would receive his resurrected body.
[00:11:01] What he was saying was,
[00:11:02] I want to partake of newness of life right now.
[00:11:05] I want to be changed and transformed right now.
[00:11:07] I want to experience the power of Jesus
[00:11:09] working in my life,
[00:11:10] changing and transforming me right now.
[00:11:12] How many of you would say,
[00:11:13] I agree with that, I want that.
[00:11:15] I'd like to see the Lord changing me,
[00:11:17] shaping me, molding me.
[00:11:18] But then secondly,
[00:11:20] Paul also was quick to say,
[00:11:22] and so also I want to partake
[00:11:24] of the sufferings of Christ.
[00:11:27] He understood that for the resurrection power of Jesus
[00:11:30] to be flowing in his life,
[00:11:32] there would need to be,
[00:11:33] at least in some way,
[00:11:34] an emulation of the sacrificial love
[00:11:38] and death of Jesus.
[00:11:40] Paul knew,
[00:11:41] I need to take up my cross
[00:11:43] and follow after my Lord,
[00:11:46] follow after Jesus.
[00:11:49] So that's where we left Paul,
[00:11:52] you know, saying,
[00:11:53] I want the resurrection power of Christ.
[00:11:55] I will want as well the suffering
[00:11:58] or the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus
[00:12:00] to know him in that beautiful kind of way
[00:12:03] that only comes through pain or difficulty.
[00:12:06] But here in our text today,
[00:12:09] Paul is sure to quickly tell all of us,
[00:12:13] but I'm not there yet.
[00:12:15] Notice what he says in verse 12.
[00:12:18] He says,
[00:12:18] I've not already obtained to that.
[00:12:21] I don't already look like Jesus.
[00:12:24] It still hasn't fully happened in my life.
[00:12:28] In fact,
[00:12:28] he even uses the phrase,
[00:12:30] I'm not already,
[00:12:31] he says in verse 12,
[00:12:32] I'm not already perfect.
[00:12:34] Now,
[00:12:34] when we read that,
[00:12:35] we chuckle a little bit.
[00:12:37] We scoff a little bit.
[00:12:38] You know,
[00:12:39] there's a little bit of like,
[00:12:40] you know,
[00:12:40] who lives,
[00:12:41] right?
[00:12:41] You know,
[00:12:42] no one's ever perfect.
[00:12:43] That's Jesus alone.
[00:12:44] Sometimes we do that with phrases like that in scripture.
[00:12:48] Like when Jesus,
[00:12:49] in the Sermon on the Mount,
[00:12:50] we call it the greatest sermon ever.
[00:12:53] At the end of the first movement of that sermon,
[00:12:56] after recounting the law,
[00:12:58] an appropriate relationship with it,
[00:13:00] he says,
[00:13:01] you therefore be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
[00:13:05] We read that and we're like,
[00:13:07] I mean,
[00:13:08] come on,
[00:13:09] Jesus.
[00:13:10] Like,
[00:13:10] that's not going to happen.
[00:13:11] You know it.
[00:13:12] I know it.
[00:13:13] Like,
[00:13:13] who are we kidding?
[00:13:14] You know,
[00:13:14] kind of thing.
[00:13:15] And I understand that perspective.
[00:13:17] It's actually right for us to think that way because it is true.
[00:13:22] On this side of eternity,
[00:13:23] none of us will attain to sinless perfection in our operation and the way that we are and all of that.
[00:13:30] The church has already had to endure enough holiness movements in its history filled with false teachers saying things like,
[00:13:37] you can and will or should be perfect on this side of eternity.
[00:13:42] And I found that if you look at what they said and did and taught,
[00:13:45] they lowered the bar when they described what holiness actually looks like.
[00:13:50] And they created these hyper legalistic communities.
[00:13:53] But when Paul uses the word perfect,
[00:13:56] he's using a Greek word that means to bring to completion.
[00:14:01] Paul isn't saying,
[00:14:02] I'm looking to be flawless on this side of eternity.
[00:14:05] He's saying,
[00:14:06] I want every single thing that Jesus is trying to do in me,
[00:14:11] that my father in heaven envisions for me.
[00:14:15] I want that to be completed in my life.
[00:14:18] And I was praying about this this morning.
[00:14:20] I just had a little prayer time before coming to church today.
[00:14:24] I ended my day yesterday reading my sermon.
[00:14:28] And every once in a while you read your sermon on a Saturday night and you go,
[00:14:32] OK, I got to get up early tomorrow and do some rewriting.
[00:14:36] So that was what most of my morning was about this morning.
[00:14:38] But I did have a little personal time reading the Bible and a little personal time in prayer.
[00:14:43] And one of my prayers was just simply because I was thinking about this passage.
[00:14:46] I was just thinking, you know, Lord, Father, what I want you to do in my life is I want you to carry out your vision of what a Christ-like Nate Holdridge looks like.
[00:14:58] I don't want to leave anything on the table.
[00:15:00] I want everything for which you have attained me for.
[00:15:04] I want to attain all of that.
[00:15:06] That's what Paul is saying when he's saying,
[00:15:08] I've not yet become perfect.
[00:15:11] But he's saying, but that's what I'm shooting for.
[00:15:14] I'm hungry for it.
[00:15:15] I want to become everything that Christ has for me to become.
[00:15:20] I love this from Paul because what it says is, I mean, here you've got a man.
[00:15:24] He's been walking with Jesus for 30 years.
[00:15:29] And I think probably every one of us in this room would say he's been walking with Jesus really well for 30 years.
[00:15:35] You know, he's been growing.
[00:15:36] It's been a transformative work that has occurred in his life.
[00:15:44] None of us would describe this man as a carnal believer.
[00:15:49] You know, struggling with whether Jesus is going to gain lordship in his life.
[00:15:54] No, day one it was, I've called you to preach this message to kings and nations and Gentiles and Jews.
[00:16:03] And that's what Paul devoted his life towards.
[00:16:05] I mean, he was all in from the very jump.
[00:16:09] But here he's saying, I still have so far to go.
[00:16:14] I may have walked with Jesus for 30 years.
[00:16:17] There might have been a lot of progress in my life, but I'm still trying to grow.
[00:16:20] I still want to become like my Lord.
[00:16:24] I love that.
[00:16:24] There's no elitism in his heart.
[00:16:27] It reminds me of the book of Joshua, this little episode where a man named Caleb, if you know the Old Testament story, Joshua and Caleb had been sent in with 10 other spies into the promised land by Moses.
[00:16:41] And they all came back and Joshua and Caleb reported, yeah, it's a beautiful land.
[00:16:46] There are giants in the land, but God is stronger than them.
[00:16:49] And so he will give us the victory.
[00:16:51] We don't know what it's going to look like, but God will give us the victory.
[00:16:54] But the 10 other spies said, it's a beautiful land.
[00:16:58] We agree, but we are like grasshoppers in the sight of those enemies.
[00:17:02] We cannot go in and take it.
[00:17:04] And the congregation believed the 10 rather than the two.
[00:17:07] And so God pronounced a judgment upon that generation.
[00:17:10] They died off in the wilderness over the next 40 years, including those 10 unbelieving spies.
[00:17:16] But because Joshua and Caleb believed, God said, you guys get to go into the land.
[00:17:21] And so in the middle of the book of Joshua, there's this episode where Caleb is 85 years old.
[00:17:28] And he goes to his friend Joshua, who's leading now at the time.
[00:17:31] And he says, hey, you remember.
[00:17:34] You remember what God said.
[00:17:36] And you remember the mountain that God said that me and my descendants could inherit.
[00:17:43] It's a difficult mountain.
[00:17:45] There's big warriors up in those hills.
[00:17:49] But I want you to give it to me.
[00:17:52] I want to go up and fight the battles that God has called me to fight.
[00:17:56] To me, that's the same spirit from Paul right here in this place.
[00:18:00] He's seasoned in his walk with Jesus, probably tired there in this Roman prison.
[00:18:06] He's exhausted himself for Christ.
[00:18:09] But he's saying there's still territory for me to gain.
[00:18:13] And I want it.
[00:18:15] I long for it.
[00:18:16] I'm craving it.
[00:18:18] He wanted so badly to become like his hero, like his Lord Jesus.
[00:18:26] So he said that he would press toward the goal.
[00:18:34] When Paul said that he would press toward the goal, it's actually a beautiful literary device that he's using.
[00:18:41] Because remember last week when he told us of his old life, his testimony?
[00:18:45] He said, I was a zealous persecutor of the church.
[00:18:49] He's using the same word that he used for persecute to describe his pressing toward Jesus.
[00:18:58] It's like he's saying the same energy that I used in the past to chase down Christians, to throw them into jail.
[00:19:06] I'm using that same force and energy today to become more like Jesus.
[00:19:15] And I love Paul because he said this is how every mature believer is going to think in verse 15.
[00:19:22] And think is a huge word in the book of Philippians.
[00:19:25] It speaks of mentality.
[00:19:27] It speaks of affection or feeling, the way that we feel, the way we process our mindset.
[00:19:33] And I've found that this is a huge area of mindset need in modern believers.
[00:19:42] To come to a place where we're like, man, my mentality is I want to become more like Christ.
[00:19:48] My view is that I would like to progress in the Christian life to become more of the redeemed version of myself that my father in heaven envisions.
[00:20:01] Paul said, this is what we would want to quote from the New International Version.
[00:20:08] We press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us.
[00:20:14] In other words, if Christ attained you, then don't you want to attain Christ likeness?
[00:20:22] That's what Paul is saying here in this passage.
[00:20:26] You guys know that Christmas is coming.
[00:20:30] We actually just gave an announcement this morning that had to do with the Christmas season and all of that.
[00:20:34] I don't know what you guys are like in your house, but we have no Christmas music in the family sound system until the day after Thanksgiving.
[00:20:44] That's our rule in our house.
[00:20:47] That doesn't mean that individuals can't put on headphones and listen to a Christmas song or two.
[00:20:52] I've been doing it, I'll admit.
[00:20:54] But in order to kind of skirt our rules, as a family we've been, over the last few years,
[00:21:02] one of our daughters in particular has cultivated this very long Spotify playlist of songs that sound like Christmas songs,
[00:21:11] but aren't Christmas songs.
[00:21:12] Like, I never knew that Bing Crosby sang all kinds of songs.
[00:21:15] Thought about Christmas.
[00:21:17] Sang about fall.
[00:21:18] He sang about the snow falling, which feels really close, but not quite.
[00:21:24] There's all these songs like that.
[00:21:25] Nat King, Cole.
[00:21:26] It's like, I thought it was just Christmas songs all the time.
[00:21:28] So that's what we do in November.
[00:21:29] We got all these songs on like, hey, that's Christmas.
[00:21:31] No, not Christmas music.
[00:21:33] He's just singing about autumn.
[00:21:35] And so Christmas is coming.
[00:21:37] All right?
[00:21:38] Christmas is coming.
[00:21:42] I want you to think about Christmas morning.
[00:21:44] Think about a little child receiving a long-awaited, hopeful, anticipated gift.
[00:21:51] What would you expect that child to do?
[00:21:54] Right?
[00:21:55] They celebrate.
[00:21:56] They're excited.
[00:21:57] What are they doing the rest of the morning?
[00:21:59] They're like tolerating the rest of their presents, right?
[00:22:02] You know, they're like socks and pajamas and snappy outfits that mom got them, you know, put under the tree.
[00:22:09] They're tolerating all that because once present time is finished, what are they going to do?
[00:22:14] They're going to go play with the video game, ride the bike, you know, enjoy the gift that has been given to them.
[00:22:21] If a child received an incredible gift that they'd hope for and long for and then just decided, I'm just going to neglect it.
[00:22:30] I'm not going to partake of it.
[00:22:31] I'm not going to enjoy it.
[00:22:32] We would say, what's wrong?
[00:22:35] What's wrong?
[00:22:36] That's Paul's attitude about what Jesus has done for him.
[00:22:40] Why would he celebrate that Christ had made him his own only to stop short of making Christ likeness his own?
[00:22:49] I mean, Paul was the great apostle who, I mean, his teaching was just incredible.
[00:22:55] He was very fluent in what the new covenant was, that there was an old covenant in the Old Testament era and a new covenant that had been promised in the Old Testament era,
[00:23:04] that he was living in that new covenant era and that the spirit of God had come to reside within him and rewrite the law on his own heart,
[00:23:13] that God would change him from the inside out.
[00:23:16] But Paul is saying, I'm not content to be able to teach that.
[00:23:19] I'm not content to be able to articulate that.
[00:23:22] I'm not content to be able to understand that doctrinally.
[00:23:26] I will not be satisfied until I enjoy that, until I partake of that.
[00:23:33] That's the person who craves Christ likeness.
[00:23:38] They say, I want to attain it.
[00:23:42] And this longing for Christ likeness, I think it fits an advancing gospel community.
[00:23:48] This shouldn't be like a big shock to us.
[00:23:50] I mean, we live in an age of self-improvement.
[00:23:54] You know, we manage stress.
[00:23:56] We optimize sleep.
[00:23:58] We hack nutrition.
[00:24:00] We encourage mental health.
[00:24:02] We take our supplements.
[00:24:03] Like, fine, do all those things.
[00:24:04] That's great.
[00:24:10] We prepare for retirement.
[00:24:12] We work on our romantic relationships.
[00:24:15] We work on our family relationships.
[00:24:17] We work on our social relationships and our church relationships.
[00:24:21] We set goals.
[00:24:22] We develop routines.
[00:24:24] We manage time.
[00:24:25] We eliminate procrastination.
[00:24:27] We work on improving our emotional intelligence,
[00:24:31] our leadership abilities, our productivity levels.
[00:24:34] Some of us read lots of books, learn new languages, or continue our education.
[00:24:40] Others master an instrument, become great artists, or start a side hustle.
[00:24:46] But amidst all of this mentality of growth and self-improvement as believers,
[00:24:52] let's make sure that we do not minimize or de-emphasize or forget the incredible priority
[00:25:01] of pursuing Christlikeness, to become more like Jesus.
[00:25:08] It's what we need.
[00:25:09] But if I could just say it like this to use Paul's, I think, grid for how he was thinking
[00:25:13] about the Philippians, it's not just what we need.
[00:25:15] It's what our community needs us to be.
[00:25:20] All right, so the second thing that I want you to see after this first one is of we want
[00:25:26] to apprehend it.
[00:25:27] The second confession of an advancing gospel community that craves Christlikeness is this.
[00:25:32] We will focus on it.
[00:25:34] We will focus on it.
[00:25:38] And for this, it's real simple.
[00:25:41] We look at verse 13.
[00:25:42] Look at what he said.
[00:25:43] These are famous verses.
[00:25:44] Probably many of you have these underlined in your Bibles.
[00:25:47] He says,
[00:25:48] One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
[00:25:53] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:26:00] Okay, these verses show us not just that he craved Christlikeness, but how he pursued Christlikeness.
[00:26:11] How did he do it?
[00:26:12] Well, the first thing you have to notice is that he made it the priority of his life, right?
[00:26:18] I mean, when he's saying one thing I do, it speaks of priority.
[00:26:24] It speaks of focus.
[00:26:25] Now, this doesn't mean, of course, that Paul didn't do other things.
[00:26:30] You know, Paul planted churches.
[00:26:31] Paul went to worship services.
[00:26:34] Paul had friendships.
[00:26:36] Paul, at times, worked side jobs.
[00:26:38] Paul bought groceries.
[00:26:40] Paul ate food.
[00:26:41] There were other things that Paul did.
[00:26:43] He's a human being.
[00:26:43] He's not just there every day with his Bible in his hand or the scrolls in his hand,
[00:26:48] just meditating on the word and saying,
[00:26:50] Oh, I want to become more like Jesus.
[00:26:52] He's living his life just like Jesus lived a life, and he's just going through his life.
[00:26:57] But for him, all of the things of life came back to that centering point of being designed
[00:27:04] to shape him to become more like his Lord.
[00:27:10] A laser, I'm sure you guys know this, is focused light.
[00:27:16] And because a laser is focused, we can actually use lasers for lots of cool things.
[00:27:23] Like you're never going to go to get LASIK eye surgery, and the doctor comes out and he's like,
[00:27:28] I've got this lamp from my house.
[00:27:31] It's a great reading lamp.
[00:27:32] I'm going to try to do something in you.
[00:27:34] You know, you need a focused laser beam to be able to perform a surgery that minute.
[00:27:42] And because lasers are focused light, we use them for medical things, industrial things,
[00:27:46] technological things, warfare things.
[00:27:49] They are able to produce because of their focus.
[00:27:53] Focus is productive.
[00:27:54] And Paul knew, if I don't focus on this, if I don't make this a focus of my life,
[00:27:59] I'm never really going to increase in Christlikeness.
[00:28:03] And Paul was that guy.
[00:28:05] I mean, every time you read about him and see his biographical data, it's like this guy was devoted,
[00:28:14] focused, thinking about pursuing Jesus.
[00:28:18] Now, another word that you could use instead of focus is the word intentionality.
[00:28:24] Intentionality in becoming more like Christ.
[00:28:27] And I find that at least for modern believers, I don't know if it's a California thing or not,
[00:28:31] but we don't really like that idea as much.
[00:28:34] The idea of being intentional about being developed more into the image of Jesus.
[00:28:42] We like to say things like, well, I want it to happen more naturally.
[00:28:46] You know, I want it to happen more relationally.
[00:28:49] I'd like it to be more of an organic thing, you know, that I become like Jesus.
[00:28:56] The picture that I'll give to you is the contrast between an organic farm, for you Californians, and then a forest.
[00:29:07] You could go into a forest and you probably could find something to eat.
[00:29:12] There might be some berries that are growing.
[00:29:15] There might be some mushrooms that are safe for you to eat.
[00:29:18] Like, you'll find out.
[00:29:26] But in a farm, there's intention and focus and planning and preparation and irrigation and steps that are taken.
[00:29:39] And because all that intentionality and focus occurs, there's great fruit that is born.
[00:29:45] There's more produce to consume.
[00:29:48] All right?
[00:29:49] So, this is just, I'm trying to build the case for a real intentional approach to pursuing Christlikeness.
[00:29:57] But in that intentionality, notice in verse 13, Paul said that he made a practice, not only of focusing on it,
[00:30:05] but as he focused on it, he forgot what lies behind.
[00:30:09] He says, I'm forgetting what lies behind.
[00:30:14] Now, it's important for us to remember the context of this statement.
[00:30:18] Because to be frank, I've heard this phrase, forgetting what lies behind.
[00:30:22] I've heard it misused often.
[00:30:26] What did Paul think and what does the context say about forgetting what lies behind?
[00:30:33] Okay, first of all, we know that it doesn't mean that he can't remember yesterday.
[00:30:40] Like, we just read last week in the earlier parts of chapter 3, he's telling his whole life story.
[00:30:46] He remembers what happens yesterday.
[00:30:48] He remembers his failures.
[00:30:49] He remembers his successes.
[00:30:51] He remembers all of those things.
[00:30:53] He's not saying, I don't remember what was yesterday.
[00:30:57] I also don't think that Paul is saying that the past or yesterday has no effect on him.
[00:31:05] I mean, his like very drive, he's using the word for persecution from his yesterday to describe how he's going to pursue Jesus today.
[00:31:15] I think it colored, his past colored the way that he approached Jesus right now.
[00:31:23] Nor, and this is where I think some people really misuse this statement from Paul,
[00:31:28] nor is he saying he has no responsibility for what happened yesterday.
[00:31:34] If you know anything about Paul, you probably know that the intense guilt that he felt for persecuting the church,
[00:31:43] it affected the way that he behaved today.
[00:31:47] All right, so, you know, some people it's like, well, I don't really, you know, I just don't even,
[00:31:51] I forget what happened yesterday.
[00:31:53] I'm moving on, you know, and I've heard some guys say that and it's like, well, hey, but your kids haven't.
[00:32:00] You know, they would like you to be thinking about that.
[00:32:03] They would like you to remedy things that you said or did.
[00:32:07] They would like you to pursue them.
[00:32:08] They would like you to make right that which is wrong.
[00:32:12] I don't think Paul is saying that he had no responsibility for the past.
[00:32:16] I think what he's saying is that if it's in the past, whether it's a success or a failure,
[00:32:24] if it's in the past, it really doesn't have bearing on whether you're going to become more like Jesus today.
[00:32:33] He's saying, I have a decision today.
[00:32:36] In my past, I was a Pharisee.
[00:32:40] Persecuting the church doesn't impact whether I'm going to pursue Christ today or not.
[00:32:45] And for the last 30 years, I've been effectively serving Jesus.
[00:32:49] Because it doesn't impact whether today I'll become more like Jesus or not.
[00:32:54] He's saying, today, I have that choice.
[00:32:57] I forget what is behind.
[00:33:01] I'm not going to dwell on what is past, my successes or my failures.
[00:33:07] I'm going to move forward.
[00:33:08] I love that from Paul.
[00:33:11] But also, he said in verse 13, I strain forward to what lies ahead.
[00:33:19] That word strain, it's a word that is, it's a stressful word.
[00:33:26] I mean, it's an athletic word.
[00:33:28] It speaks of exertion, sweat, pain even.
[00:33:35] He's saying, I'm straining, I'm bending the neck to move forward in my pursuit of Jesus.
[00:33:44] Paul was like a runner who's saying, I can't look behind me.
[00:33:48] I've got to look ahead.
[00:33:50] I've got to see the crest of the hill or I've got to see the opponent in front of me.
[00:33:55] In fact, a friend of mine just recently won a small marathon.
[00:34:01] He's actually the pastor of Monterey Church, Josiah, new pastor in town.
[00:34:06] And he recently just won a marathon.
[00:34:09] And he said that what happened was he was kind of in the lead pack.
[00:34:14] And then he just started slowing down.
[00:34:17] Like his body just wouldn't keep up with the lead pack.
[00:34:21] And so he's slowing down and he just kind of figured in the last few miles of the race,
[00:34:25] like, well, you know, I did my best, but I can't win the race.
[00:34:28] But he just kept looking ahead.
[00:34:31] He kept looking ahead.
[00:34:32] He wasn't thinking about anybody pursuing him.
[00:34:34] He just kept looking ahead.
[00:34:35] And he started noticing the leader coming closer to him.
[00:34:40] He's like, okay, so he's hitting the wall also.
[00:34:43] And that gave him the juice that he needed.
[00:34:45] He stepped on the gas and he passed the guy in the last mile and won the race.
[00:34:50] That's Paul.
[00:34:51] He's saying, man, I'm going to keep looking forward
[00:34:55] to that vision of what it looks like to become more like Jesus for Paul.
[00:35:01] And I'm going to strain towards that goal.
[00:35:05] I love that from Paul.
[00:35:08] To me, it reminds us of what he said in 2, 12, and 13,
[00:35:12] which Pastor Matt shared with us about.
[00:35:15] You know, to work out.
[00:35:16] He says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
[00:35:19] for it's God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure.
[00:35:22] It's like Paul is saying, that's what I'm doing.
[00:35:25] I am working out my salvation.
[00:35:28] I am throwing my energy into this.
[00:35:31] And as I am, God's power and might is meeting me.
[00:35:38] So he's throwing himself into that goal.
[00:35:42] Recently, I had a fun little experience in that a few years ago,
[00:35:48] I decided to start, I got into weightlifting, weight training,
[00:35:53] and lifting weights.
[00:35:55] And recently, I had Austin Kava, one of our youth guys.
[00:36:00] He was over with me, and we were lifting weights together.
[00:36:04] And on this particular day, it was deadlift day.
[00:36:07] Deadlift is just a lift where the weight is all on the floor,
[00:36:10] and you're basically picking it up and standing up straight.
[00:36:12] And so it's a real heavy lift.
[00:36:14] And on that particular day, I was going for my personal best,
[00:36:19] like my all-time best.
[00:36:20] And Austin knew it.
[00:36:21] Austin's a Marine and a football player
[00:36:25] and a very enthusiastic person in general.
[00:36:28] And so he's like, all right, man, I'm here for you.
[00:36:31] So he's like, I'm there.
[00:36:33] I got the weight going.
[00:36:35] And he's just like, you got this.
[00:36:37] You got it.
[00:36:38] And he's just yelling and stuff.
[00:36:39] And it's coming up.
[00:36:40] And he's just shouting at me and all that.
[00:36:43] And I got it.
[00:36:44] And then if you know anything about deadlifting,
[00:36:47] it's real loud.
[00:36:48] And so I drop it down on the ground, set it down.
[00:36:51] It sounds like a car engine is falling out of a car
[00:36:55] or something like that.
[00:36:56] And then, of course, because I'm me and all that,
[00:37:00] I let out this guttural animal just, you know, kind of cry.
[00:37:06] You know, I'm just pumped.
[00:37:07] And right as all that was happening,
[00:37:10] the UPS man was delivering a package to our front door.
[00:37:16] And normally, you know, he just like throws it down.
[00:37:18] He's like, hey, have a great day.
[00:37:19] But like to him, he's hearing someone dying in the garage.
[00:37:23] That's what he's hearing happen.
[00:37:25] Like someone is killing someone else, you know.
[00:37:29] And so he knocks on the door and he asks Christina.
[00:37:31] He's like, hey, do you hear that, right?
[00:37:36] She's like, oh, it's just my husband.
[00:37:38] He's doing his thing.
[00:37:39] The neighbors love it, you know.
[00:37:43] Here's why I'm sharing this.
[00:37:44] I just wanted to brag about my personal best.
[00:37:46] No.
[00:37:47] I'm sharing this because what that was for me was saying a long time ago,
[00:37:56] here's a goal I want to hit, a number I want to reach.
[00:38:01] This is going to take a long time to get there,
[00:38:04] but I'm going to make a plan.
[00:38:05] I'm going to stick to it, and I'm thinking I'm going to get there.
[00:38:08] And that's what Paul is saying.
[00:38:10] He's saying you've got to have that image of what like a Jesus-looking you is,
[00:38:17] and then you just keep building your life to come closer to that reality.
[00:38:26] In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah hears from far away that Jerusalem is destroyed.
[00:38:34] He gets resources to rebuild it, but the first thing he does is he surveys the damage,
[00:38:40] and then he has this vision.
[00:38:42] He sees in his mind's eye where it's going,
[00:38:47] and he just starts working towards that goal.
[00:38:52] And as he did, guess who helped him?
[00:38:54] God helped him.
[00:38:55] The power of God met him,
[00:38:57] and he was able to realize the thing that God had laid upon his heart.
[00:39:02] All right, let's wrap up with one last exhortation, though.
[00:39:06] We will focus on it,
[00:39:09] but an advancing gospel community that craves Christ-likeness
[00:39:13] also confesses we will follow others who pursue it.
[00:39:18] We will follow others who pursue it.
[00:39:21] In verse 17, Paul invites the Philippians to join in imitating him.
[00:39:29] He's like, you can copy me.
[00:39:30] And then he says, and you can copy not just me,
[00:39:35] but copy anyone who walks according to this example.
[00:39:39] I think he's probably thinking about Timothy,
[00:39:42] who he already wrote about.
[00:39:43] He's probably thinking about Epaphroditus,
[00:39:45] who he already wrote about,
[00:39:46] and who's bringing the letter to the Philippian church.
[00:39:49] He's thinking about everyone who is all in on pursuing Jesus.
[00:39:54] And he's saying, you can make people like that the example in your life.
[00:40:00] This is intensely practical from Paul.
[00:40:03] Because sometimes we have difficulty.
[00:40:04] We're like, okay, I'm like reading about Jesus.
[00:40:07] I'm thinking about Jesus.
[00:40:09] I'm meditating on who he is, what he's like.
[00:40:11] I'm trying to come up with like a Jesus-y version of myself that I'm envisioning.
[00:40:19] But I'm having a hard time doing that.
[00:40:21] You know, Jesus lived 2,000 years ago.
[00:40:23] His life is written in black and white.
[00:40:25] I know the Spirit of God can help me.
[00:40:27] But I'm feeling limited as I develop that vision.
[00:40:31] This is why Paul is saying,
[00:40:32] But you can also look around at other people who have made Christ their pursuit.
[00:40:39] And they can kind of fill in the blanks for you.
[00:40:43] They can help you as you're developing that vision for what the Father wants you to become.
[00:40:52] Paul knew that we needed those examples.
[00:40:55] He also knew that there were people that we should not follow.
[00:40:59] I mean, look at what he says in verse 18.
[00:41:02] He says, I'm crying as I write this.
[00:41:04] I'm saying this with tears.
[00:41:06] There are those who are enemies of the cross of Christ.
[00:41:10] He's like, these are not the people to be your examples.
[00:41:12] These are not the people for you to follow.
[00:41:15] So the question, of course, that we want to ask is,
[00:41:17] Well, who are the enemies of the cross of Christ?
[00:41:19] Like, who is Paul thinking of?
[00:41:21] You might think that what he's saying is,
[00:41:23] Well, enemies of the cross of Christ are just people that are,
[00:41:25] they don't like the gospel message.
[00:41:28] They don't like the cross.
[00:41:29] They're enemies of it.
[00:41:30] So they're not believers in any way, shape, or form.
[00:41:34] Don't listen to them.
[00:41:35] He might say that kind of thing elsewhere.
[00:41:38] But I think he's saying something different here.
[00:41:41] And for this, I want you to remember two pillar purposes of the cross of Christ.
[00:41:48] Pillar one is that the cross is the way that we receive forgiveness and acceptance
[00:41:55] before a perfect and altogether holy and beautiful and majestic God.
[00:42:00] He's just different from you and me.
[00:42:02] How can we become enough to be able to have him, to engage with him?
[00:42:09] How can that happen?
[00:42:10] It happens through the cross.
[00:42:11] Jesus lived a perfect life that you would never live.
[00:42:14] He died the death that you should have died.
[00:42:16] He rose from the dead so that if you believe in him, trust in him, lean upon him rather than yourself,
[00:42:22] your own merit, who you are.
[00:42:24] You lean upon Jesus.
[00:42:26] Throw your weight upon Jesus.
[00:42:27] You'll be cleansed, forgiven, washed, and made right in the sight of that God who made you.
[00:42:33] Right?
[00:42:33] So that's pillar one.
[00:42:35] Pillar two is that the cross also informs us of what discipleship looks like.
[00:42:45] Okay?
[00:42:46] This is the part that sometimes is neglected in modern Christian churches.
[00:42:52] But this is a very important pillar.
[00:42:54] Jesus said, take up your cross, die to yourself, deny yourself, and follow after me.
[00:42:59] The cross, not only does it make us right in the sight of God, but it provides for us the example, the guidance, the template
[00:43:07] for the kind of life that we want to live now as Christians.
[00:43:12] Some call it the cruciform life.
[00:43:15] It is allowing the cross of Jesus to impact our attitudes, our perspectives.
[00:43:20] So anytime you hear like arrogance, boasting, all that kind of stuff,
[00:43:24] you're hearing something that is contrary to the cruciform life.
[00:43:28] The Christian says, that's not what I want.
[00:43:30] I want to have my life colored by the cross.
[00:43:33] So when Paul says that these are enemies of the cross of Christ,
[00:43:38] I think what he's saying is these are people who they liked pillar one.
[00:43:46] They maybe even preached pillar one, but they didn't believe in pillar two.
[00:43:53] They thought God came to forgive, cleanse, make right, make pure, all that stuff.
[00:44:02] And then he's got nothing to do with my life.
[00:44:07] The cross does not change, transform, empower, move me forward in any way, shape, or form.
[00:44:14] What Paul said is that their end in verse 19 is destruction.
[00:44:19] He's sad for them.
[00:44:21] He's like, my lowly body, the lowly bodies of me and my friends,
[00:44:25] our lowly bodies pursuing Jesus, our lowly bodies,
[00:44:28] we're going to one day get what we've been wanting.
[00:44:31] We're going to become like Jesus.
[00:44:33] But he says, not this group.
[00:44:35] Not this group, but this false or half gospel.
[00:44:39] Paul said in verse 19, he said, their God is their belly.
[00:44:43] What does that mean?
[00:44:44] That means that they focused on their physical desires and impulses more than on Jesus's will for their lives.
[00:44:53] Paul said in Romans 16 verse 18 that such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.
[00:45:00] In other words, who is Lord in this person's life?
[00:45:04] It's their appetites and drives and desires, not Jesus.
[00:45:08] This is part of why I think Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 3 that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit of God.
[00:45:16] Like that's God working in your life when you come to that place where you're like, whatever Jesus says, I want to be about that.
[00:45:22] Even if what he says contradicts my feelings, drives, desires, I want that.
[00:45:27] That's a Jesus is Lord kind of statement.
[00:45:29] But to say my drives, desires, and appetites, that's what must be pursued.
[00:45:34] That's a, those, that's my Lord.
[00:45:37] And so he's just saying, he's saying their God is their belly.
[00:45:40] And verse 19, they glory in their shame.
[00:45:43] He's saying things that they should be embarrassed by, they're proud of.
[00:45:49] Now Paul said this in the, of the unbelieving world in Romans chapter 1 verse 28 and 32 when he said the persistent resistance of God's revealed will in nature and scripture will lead to a, here's where the quote begins,
[00:46:02] a debased mind to do what ought not to be done, leading people not only to do but give approval to those who practice such things.
[00:46:14] And then finally Paul said their, their minds are set on earthly things.
[00:46:19] They're just thinking about earthly affairs.
[00:46:21] They're not allowing God to inform or affect or be part of those earthly affairs.
[00:46:26] And so Paul said, that's not us.
[00:46:29] We have a citizenship in heaven.
[00:46:31] And those are the kind of people we need to look to.
[00:46:33] People who realize their eternal future destiny and they live backwards.
[00:46:37] They reverse engineer their lives from that heavenly reality all the way back to our modern time.
[00:46:43] All this to say, we need biblical guidance, spiritual counselors, and shining examples to illuminate the path in front of us.
[00:46:56] Like we know that, right?
[00:46:57] You'd never see a really great musician.
[00:46:59] Like all these musicians that were playing up here earlier today, you know, you just know every one of them had a teacher.
[00:47:07] Every one of them had a mentor, someone that they learned from.
[00:47:10] Every one of them had that.
[00:47:11] Every great athlete you've ever seen, you just know instinctively.
[00:47:16] They did not just play, learn that game or that sport all on their own.
[00:47:22] Even sports that are very singular, you know, a golfer or a sprinter, they're going up against competition time and time again to push themselves to become more than they would be by themselves.
[00:47:36] Any person who's got a great career, who's been successful in business, you just kind of instinctively know.
[00:47:43] Somebody showed them the way.
[00:47:45] Somebody taught them.
[00:47:46] They had good mentors.
[00:47:47] They learned good truths.
[00:47:49] They saw how to do this.
[00:47:52] And one does not become Christ-like without being exposed to others who have pursued that same path.
[00:47:59] So for those who have served that way in your life, thank them this week.
[00:48:05] Reach out to them and rejoice at what God has given to you.
[00:48:09] All right?
[00:48:10] We will follow others who pursue it.
[00:48:12] But I want to wrap up today by pointing your attention back to the book of Genesis.
[00:48:17] There's this story where Jacob is coming back to his homeland.
[00:48:25] He's the grandson of Abraham.
[00:48:27] He's coming back to his homeland.
[00:48:28] And on his way, he meets a figure.
[00:48:31] It's obvious that this figure, this person, is divine or angelic in some way.
[00:48:36] They meet in the middle of the night, and I love it.
[00:48:40] They start having a wrestling match.
[00:48:43] It's like he's literally wrestling with God.
[00:48:46] You ever say that?
[00:48:47] Like, I'm wrestling with God.
[00:48:48] He was literally wrestling with God.
[00:48:50] And he's having this wrestling match.
[00:48:51] He can't win.
[00:48:52] He just can't win.
[00:48:53] It's going on all night.
[00:48:55] He can't win this fight.
[00:48:58] And finally, he comes to a place where he realizes he can't win, but he won't give up.
[00:49:04] And he says this line.
[00:49:05] He says, I will not let you go unless you bless me.
[00:49:10] And the man or this figure does bless him, changes his name to Israel, all that kind of stuff.
[00:49:17] Also touches his hip so that it goes out of joint so he can pin him and defeat him.
[00:49:24] And Jacob walks around with a limp the rest of his life.
[00:49:26] So as to remind him, stop wrestling with God.
[00:49:30] That's kind of like the theme of his life.
[00:49:32] He just wrestled with God, fought against God's revealed will over and over again.
[00:49:36] That night was a microcosm of his whole life.
[00:49:39] But that line, I will not let you go unless you bless me.
[00:49:43] It reminds me of that Mark 5 woman with the flow of blood.
[00:49:48] I'm going to pursue him.
[00:49:51] I'm going to touch his garment.
[00:49:54] I'm going to feel the release of his power so that my life is changed and transformed.
[00:50:00] That was Paul's attitude.
[00:50:02] And of course, today, I think I'm just saying, let's let that be our attitude as well.
[00:50:08] Amen?
[00:50:09] That we would say, we want to be like Jesus more than anything else.
[00:50:14] It's the one thing we pursue.
[00:50:16] That's when he signs up.
[00:50:16] Now when he calls you the other.
[00:50:17] And there goes, oh my God.