Good morning friends, I'd like to echo that from Sam, if you'd like to grab your Bibles,
Philippians chapter 3, and let's pray.
Father God, we ask as we do open your word now, we do pray that you would help us to
heed the warning of this passage, but also rejoice in the promise, and I ask Father that
you would enable us to pursue you, to go hard after you, and we ask it for your sake.
Amen.
This is a radio conversation between the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln
and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995.
Canadians, come on first.
Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid collision.
Americans, I recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid collision.
Canadians, negative.
You'll have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid collision.
Americans, this is the captain of a US Navy warship.
I say again, divert your course.
Canadians, no.
Americans, this is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, the second largest ship in the
United States Atlantic fleet.
We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels.
I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north.
I say again, that's one five degrees north.
Or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
There's a bit of a pause in the radio conversation at this point.
And the Canadians come on.
This is a lighthouse.
Your call.
There are a number of points in the Bible where we get similar warnings in order to change course
in view of what is up ahead in the future.
And Philippians 3 is one of those passages which has a clear warning in there.
Amongst the encouragement, there is a clear warning.
This is the fourth installment in our commitment series, Partners for Life.
The title of this talk is Partners for Eternity.
However, late last night I decided to change it.
And I've called it Partners in Going Hard After God.
From Philippians 3, I want to show you why we must go hard after God.
And I want to encourage you to go hard after God.
And I want to persuade you that the pursuit of God is not optional, even after conversion.
For this passage is written to Christians.
The warning is to Christians.
I take it those Paul describes in verse 18 as living as enemies of the cross of Christ
are those who have given up going hard after God.
They are the ones who have given up, pressing forward, pursuing God.
You see, this is a warning that Paul has issued before and he does it here again.
He says it with tears because verse 19 says that the destiny of the enemy of the cross of Christ
is destruction.
He could not have used stronger language in issuing this warning.
The destruction that he has in mind here is eternal destruction.
And that is why we must go hard after God.
Because the warning is clear.
The destiny you don't want to mess with.
Paul says three things about the enemy of the cross of Jesus.
He says their lives are characterized by three things.
It says here that they have their mind on earthly things.
Literally, their mind is set on earthly things.
It's not just they think about them, but they're actually set on earthly things.
At the very center of their life is the world and its thinking and its priorities.
They think like the world thinks.
Their thinking is not directed by the word of God, the Bible,
but by popular culture, by social trends, by what everyone else is doing and thinking.
When there is a clash between the scriptures and popular influences,
the Bible loses out every time for these people.
Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter?
Very strong warning.
When Peter had his mind on earthly things and tried to discourage Jesus from going to the cross.
You remember that encounter?
Jesus turned to his best mate and called him the name of his worst enemy.
Get behind me, Satan.
Why?
Because you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
Your mind is on earthly things.
You are thinking like everyone else thinks.
Peter wanted Jesus without a cross, but a Jesus without a cross is no savior and he's no lord.
The enemy of the cross has their mind set on earthly things.
It also says that they glory in their shame.
The very sins that Jesus died for on the cross are the very things that they continue to do and they continue to delight in.
They may even call themselves Christians, but they don't live it.
It's like as if those sins don't matter.
To glory in shame is to keep doing the very things that God hates and think it doesn't matter.
It's even to have a strong confidence in that I am saved by grace alone and Jesus is just going to keep forgiving me.
And my sin doesn't matter.
It is a blasé approach to holiness.
The technical term for it is cheap grace.
It's a blasé approach to the mortification of sin.
It's to glory in shame.
Of course these people would tick the box on the big sins and go, well, you know, I don't do those things.
List off the Ten Commandments, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, all fine and dandy.
But what about the acceptable sins?
God wants to deal with those things that we find acceptable amongst us.
God wants to deal with those things.
When you go hard after God, those stones get turned over and God wants to deal with them.
It is painful and it is raw to allow God to weed around in those closely held sins because the life of sin is so easy.
It is so attractive.
It feels so good.
But be warned.
Destiny is destruction.
It also says that the enemy of God has their stomach as their God.
That is, their gut is their God.
What that means is they pander their physical desires and urges.
What I feel like doing is what I do.
What I want to do is what I do.
And so the words of Jesus for these people, where he says, deny yourself, take up your cross and come follow me, those words have been forgotten.
They have come to Christ, but don't want to keep denying themselves.
The enemy of the cross of Christ has destruction as their destiny.
Friends, the cross of Christ is where the war on God ended.
It is where Jesus dealt with our sin, forgave our sin, forgave our rebellion.
And it is only, only through Jesus that we are ever able to escape the destiny of destruction.
So why go hard after God in Christ?
Because destruction is the destiny of those who don't.
And do you hear the warning of this passage?
It's not just saying, yeah, I trust in Jesus, I believe in Jesus.
And leaving it at that.
It is going hard after God because he's gone hard after me.
Moment by moment, day by day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
We also get another reason why we should go hard after God in verse 20.
But our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
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.
The alternative destination is citizenship of heaven, where the Lord Jesus reigns.
And that is why we should go hard after God.
Because it is where Jesus is.
Citizenship is crucial.
It is very important.
And by and large, it is something that most of us take for granted.
It's something we didn't take for granted at the end of last year,
when we were pursuing citizenship for some of our members.
Life and death were at stake.
That is how important citizenship is.
But when you're born in a country like Australia, you just take it for granted.
Until you go to the United States and then you appreciate it a little bit more.
Citizenship is crucial because it provides protection and care and significance.
If you are a refugee, a citizen of no country,
and there is no one to protect you,
all of a sudden life becomes very, very nervous.
For instance, over 100 years ago,
a Spanish court condemned to death a man for a crime that he apparently committed.
However, this man was an American citizen and he was British by birth.
And the two ambassadors of those respective countries said,
you cannot condemn this man to death.
The Spanish basically ignored that.
And they marched him out to put him up against the wall
to kill him by firing squad.
Right behind the firing squad
came the ambassadors of those two countries.
They walked out with them
and they each had a flag
and they wrapped the man in one of their respective country flags
as he stood there on the wall of the firing squad.
And the two ambassadors said,
we dare you to fire a shot.
If you fire a shot,
we will bring both of our empires down on top of Spain.
And the guns were lowered
and they all walked away.
That is what citizenship does for you.
There he was standing in front of a bunch of guys
with guns aimed at him
and he was wrapped in simple cotton
and yet he might as well have been wearing armour plating.
He was impervious to destruction.
As a friend of the cross,
you are impervious to destruction.
Trusting Jesus means that your citizenship is in heaven
and your destiny is not destruction.
Instead of destruction,
in fact, it's a new body fit for eternity
is what it says there.
Did you see that?
He's not just changing us on the inside,
that's what he's doing now,
but he's actually going to give us bodies
which are completely new,
fit for eternity in heaven.
Bodies that don't need to cry.
Bodies that won't feel unloved.
Bodies that won't feel lonely.
Bodies that won't feel sad.
Bodies that will never grow tired.
Bodies that won't break down on you.
Notice too that Paul didn't say
that your citizenship will be in heaven.
It is because Christ has already grabbed hold of you,
your citizenship is in heaven.
If you're a Christian,
you are already a citizen of heaven.
You are already impervious to destruction.
That is the home that you are heading for.
And that is why the citizen of heaven,
who understands that they are a citizen of heaven,
don't just wait.
They eagerly wait.
They eagerly wait for their saviour to come.
We are eagerly busting to be there
because it's where Jesus is.
Verses 12 to 16 show us
what this eagerly waiting looks like.
And let me say that these verses
explode the false logic
that says if Christ has found us,
we don't need to find him anymore.
We no longer need to seek him
if we have been found by Christ.
Paul's reasoning is in fact the exact opposite.
I press on in order to gain Christ
because Christ has already gained me.
Verse 12,
not that I've 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.
Brothers, I do not consider myself
yet to have taken hold of it.
One thing I do,
forgetting what is behind
and straining towards what is ahead,
I press on towards the goal
to win the prize
which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature
should take such a view of things
and if on some point you think differently,
that too God will make clear to you.
Only let us live up
to what we have already attained.
You see,
Paul did not see his conversion to Christ
as a cage to hold him back
but as a catapult to pursue righteousness.
The irresistible grace of Christ
overcoming Paul's rebellion
did not make Paul passive.
It made him powerful
in pursuing holiness.
The best commentary on these verses
I think is back in chapter 2,
verses 12 and 13
which says,
work out your salvation.
Work at it,
work at it,
work at it.
Why?
Because it is God who is working in you.
In calling Christians
to go hard after God,
Paul in no way
undermines salvation by grace alone.
He simply confirms it.
Twice in these verses
he affirms it is God
who has taken hold of him.
But in the very same verses
he calls us to take hold of Christ,
to pursue,
to press on,
go hard after God.
You see what Paul's saying here?
Our work
in pursuing God
is his work
for his glory
when done
in dependence
on his sovereign grace.
I'll say that again.
Our work
is his work
for his glory
when done
in dependence
on his
sovereign grace.
The most fundamental reason
why the Christian
must go hard
after Christ
is that Christ
is in them
moving them
to go hard
after him.
And it's in this
that Paul sets himself up
as a model to follow
in verse 17.
He says,
follow my example,
brothers,
and take note
of those who live
according to the pattern
that we gave you.
What was the pattern
of life for Paul?
Verse 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,
and so somehow
to attain
the resurrection
from the dead.
What was Paul's
pattern of life?
I just want to know
Jesus
and I want to be
like Jesus.
His whole focus
in life
was being made
more and more
like Jesus
until the day
he meets Jesus
face to face.
For me to live
is Christ
and to die
is gain
is what he said
in chapter 1
verse 21.
It is a spurious
logic
which insists
that if we
have found Christ
we no more
need to seek Christ.
As one writer
put it last century,
to have found God
and still
to pursue him
is the soul's
paradox
of love.
Scorned
indeed
by the two
easily satisfied
religiousists
but justified
in happy
experience
by the children
with a burning
heart.
Or
put probably
more simply
by another guy
who was even
older than him
wherever
there is
true grace
there is a
desire
for more
grace.
Wherever
there is
true grace
there is
a desire
for more
grace.
The evidence
that you
have Christ
is that you
want more
of Christ.
Continued
indifference
to growth
in grace
is a sign
of no
grace
and that
my friends
is why
we need
to go
hard
after God.
Because
either
you're a
citizen
of heaven
or the
warning
is
destruction
is your
destiny.
So
what can
we learn
from Paul's
example?
How do
we go
hard
after God?
I think
there's
at least
three things
in this
passage.
Firstly
develop
holy
dissatisfaction.
That's
the first
thing.
Paul says
here,
brothers,
I do
not consider
myself
yet to
have
taken
hold
of it.
Paul's
pursuit
of Christ
rises
out of
a profound
dissatisfaction
with the
way he
is.
And I
just
ponder
this.
Could
it be
that there
is a
connection
between
how
little
earnest
pursuit
of God
there is
today
and how
much
we are
told to
think
well of
ourselves?
It's
not a
topic
that I
haven't
raised
before.
It is
a wonderful
thing to
have been
taken
possession
by
Christ
but it
is a
thousand
times
more
wonderful
when we
realise
that he
has taken
possession
of people
who remain
sinful.
people.
The first
step in
going hard
after the
holy God
then is
to develop
a holy
dissatisfaction
with your
spiritual
life.
What
comes more
naturally to
us however
is a
dissatisfaction
with other
people's
spiritual
life.
That is
a more
natural
thing.
It is
very easy
to point
the finger
and say
well that
person
doesn't
come to
church
very often
and that
person's
never
involved
and that
person's
always got
excuses and
that person
doesn't pray
so clearly
and
dissatisfaction
all around
me.
Disappointment
all around
me.
Being able
to point
out others
lack of
pursuit of
God doesn't
actually mean
that I am
pursuing God.
Just thought
I want to
make that
clear.
It is not
a sign of
maturity to
be able
to identify
other
people's
immaturity.
Stand in
front of
the mirror
of the
word and
recognize
that you
have not
yet
arrived.
The
hearty
admission
of our
spiritual
imperfections
is the
starting
point for
the
pursuit
of
God.
The
mortification
of pride
friends.
I think
I have
spoken about
that a
few
times.
That is
where it
begins.
I think
that real
humbling
guilt is
extraordinarily
rare.
And I
think that
99% of
our bad
feelings about
ourselves is
actually rooted
in pride.
For example,
suppose you go to
a dinner party
and you discover
that you've turned
up with the
wrong gear on.
You haven't
dressed appropriately
for the occasion.
You then knock
your coffee over
on the table.
The joke you
attempt to make
falls flat.
you call your
host by the
wrong name,
you tread on
his dog's
tail and
you make
the kids
cry.
You go away
from that
and how do
you feel?
You feel
rotten.
You feel
rotten.
Who's ever
done that,
by the way?
Anyone?
Yeah.
A few
people.
Yeah, you
feel rotten.
You hate
yourself, you're
depressed, you
don't want to
show your
face.
Where do
all these
depressing,
immobilizing,
self-denouncing
feelings come
from?
Is the
answer God's
offended glory or
your offended
pride?
People who
are depressed
and immobilized
and angry
because their
behavior has
injured, has
actually injured
the glory of
God are
very, very,
very rare.
But people
who are
depressed and
immobilized and
angry because
their behavior has
prevented them from
having a reputation
of being social,
intelligent and
competent are
very, very,
very common.
When I call us
to develop a
holy dissatisfaction
with our spiritual
life, I am
asking for
something rare,
not something
common.
I am asking
us to feel
worse that we
possess so
little of
Christ that
we have such
little communion
with God.
The first
step in going
hard after God
is to feel
bad about the
right things.
Friends,
develop a
holy dissatisfaction
with your
spiritual life.
The second
step is going
hard after God,
I think,
is in verse
13, to
forget those
things which
lie behind.
I take this
to mean that
anything in
your or our
collectively as
a church,
our background
which hinders
the pursuit
of God
should be put
out of our
minds.
The point
is this.
The point
is don't
ever look
back.
The point
is only
look back
for the sake
of pressing
forward.
And generally
churches are not
good at that.
We like
looking back.
And the longer
we look back,
the more likely
we will
become a
museum.
We
ought only
ever look
back for
the sake
of pressing
forward.
Never,
ever substitute
nostalgia for
hope.
Individually
and corporately,
we must be
careful of
looking back,
my friends.
Memories of
successes in
the past can
make us smug
and self-satisfied.
Memories of
failures in
the past can
make us
hopeless and
paralyzed in
the pursuit
of God in
the present.
Never look
back like
that.
Give
humble thanks
for the
successes from
the past.
Rejoice that
God has done
some great
stuff in the
past.
But friends,
it's in the
past.
We ought not
take comfort
that my
current pursuit
of God is
somehow wrapped
up with
something that
I did 20
years ago.
God wants
it now.
He wants
the pursuit
now.
Never make,
and also
linked with
that, make
humble confession
for failure.
But then
turn to the
future and
go hard after
God now.
Which brings
me to my
final step in
going hard
after God.
Verse 13,
strain forward
to what lies
ahead.
strain forward.
It is
hard work
is the
idea.
You are
straining to
move forward.
And Paul
provides his
own illustration
of straining
forward in
1 Corinthians
9.
Let me read
it to you.
Everyone who
competes in
the games
goes into
strict training.
They do it
to get a
crown that
will not
last, but
we do it
to get a
crown that
will last
forever.
Therefore,
I do not
run like a
man running
aimlessly.
I do not
fight like a
man beating
the air.
No, I
beat my
body and
make it my
slave, so
that after I
have preached
to others, I
myself will
not be
disqualified for
the prize.
During the
marathon in
the 1968
Mexican
Olympics,
a Tanzanian
runner,
Stephen
Akwari, fell
and badly
hurt his
leg.
He had
blood coming
out everywhere
and they
bandaged it
up and all
that.
he actually
got up and
he limped
the rest of
the race.
And he
finally finished
one and a
half hours
after the
last person
had crossed
the finish
line.
And there
was virtually
no one in
the stands.
They were
packing up
for the
day.
Marathon's
over, the
lights are
getting turned
off, there's
a guy
sweeping the
floors, they
put the
cat out, all
that sort
of stuff.
It's time
to shut
the shop
down for
the day.
There's a
reporter
packing up.
He sees
what's
happened because
there's a few
people that
are left in
the stands
are actually
standing and
applauding this
guy, limping
around in
the twilight.
And this
reporter runs
down to the
finish line and
sticks a
microphone in
his face and
said, why
don't you
just give
up?
My
goodness, it's
all over.
Look at your
leg.
You've still got
blood coming
out of it.
And he
said this, I
imagine with a
bit of puffing
and panning,
you don't
understand, my
country did not
send me 5,000
miles to start
a race.
They sent me
to finish it.
They sent me
to finish it.
The way to go
hard after God
is with all the
discipline and
self-denial of an
athlete.
I doubt that
there has ever
been a Christian
who reached the
heights of
knowledge and
joy and
obedience and
communion with
God without a
plan and
discipline and
self-denial.
God does not
promise his
riches to
aimless,
apathetic,
lazy servants.
Paul did not
run aimlessly or
beat the air.
He lived with
spiritual goals in
view and
controlled his
passions for the
sake of those
goals.
Can you see the
difference?
The destiny of
destruction are
those who glory in
their shame, who
have their minds
set on earthly
things and give
themselves over to
worldly passions.
nations.
The citizen of
heaven is like an
athlete, focused,
aiming towards the
goal.
So I would
encourage you, my
friends, I would
urge you, in fact I
would plead with you
to be athletes, in
spiritual athletes, to
set yourself a goal to
know more of the
word of God, to
grasp more of the
will of God and to
love more of the
wonder of God.
God, make a plan
right now as you
look into the next
year, make a plan
right now, a plan of
prayer and study and
worship and service
and go for it with
all of your might
because it is Christ
working in you,
dragging you
heavenward.
Heed the warning
this morning, develop a
holy dissatisfaction with
your spiritual
attainments.
put out of your
mind anything from
the past which
hinders your pursuit
of God in the
present.
Strain forward like
an athlete, for it
is God who is work
in you.
We do not run in
our own strength and
all the more,
therefore, we can be
assured that going
after, hard after the
holy God will bring
us to know him
deeply and enjoy
the sweet, sweet
confirmation of our
citizenship in heaven.
Let's pray.
Father God, again,
your word is so
clear and yet
without your spirit
enlightening, Father,
it just does not make
sense.
our hearts are
darkened to the
glorious truth of
citizenship in heaven
where the Lord Jesus
rules.
Father, our hearts are
weak and they are
feeble.
There are many things
that we just, it's
just so much easier,
Lord, just to be able
to sit and to be
comfortable and yet,
Lord, when we do it
for too long, we just
get comfortable with
religion and we get
comfortable in our
apathy.
And so, Lord, we
pray that you would
rescue us from that.
Father, rescue us, we
pray.
Rescue us, Father, so
that we might go hard
after you and enjoy
the sweet confirmation
of our citizenship in
heaven where the Lord
Jesus Christ reigns
and from where he will
come to establish his
rule and to take us
heavenward to be with
him.
Lord, give us that
focus and that desire
now to go hard after
you.
Amen.