I'd like to keep your Bibles open at that passage, Philippians 3, verse 12, and I'll pray.
Father God, we thank you again for the wonder of your word, and your word is so clear.
It is so clear to us tonight as to what has been said there, and yet understanding and obeying it,
we have got no power to do that without the work of your Spirit in us.
And so, Lord, we ask that you would have mercy on us.
Help us to heed the warning, to see the encouragement, and to have the determination to continue to press on forward.
Lord, for those of us who may be in a state of apathy, Lord, we ask that you would shake us out of that
and encourage us to get up and to get on, pressing on to look for you, and we ask it for your sake. Amen.
This is a radio conversation between the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln
and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995.
First of all, the Canadians came on the radio.
Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid collision.
Americans, recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid collision.
Canadians, negative.
You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid collision.
Americans, this is the captain of a U.S. Navy warship, and I say again, divert your course.
Canadians, no.
I say again, you divert your course.
Americans, this is the aircraft carrier USS 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 to the 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 on the radio at this point,
and the Canadians came in and replied,
this is a lighthouse, your call.
There are a number of points in the Bible where we get similar kind of warnings
needing to change course.
And right now, Philippians 3 is one of those instances.
There is a clear warning in these verses, one that we need to take heed of.
This sermon is the fourth installment in our commitment series for this year, Partners for Life.
And the title of this talk is Partners for Eternity.
And last night, I decided to change that.
Late last night, you don't normally do much changing late at night,
but I decided, in fact, I prefer to call this one Partners in Going Hard After God.
I think that's a more appropriate title for this talk.
From Philippians 3, tonight, I want to show you why we must go hard after God.
And I want to encourage you to go hard after God.
I want to persuade you that the pursuit of God is not optional even after conversion.
And I say that because I take it that the ones that Paul describes in verse 18
as living as the enemies of the cross of Christ
are those who have given up pursuing God.
You see, Paul has issued this warning before.
And he does it again here, and he does it with tears in verse 19,
I think because he knows these people.
And he says,
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 he has in mind is eternal destruction.
And that is why we must go hard after God.
Paul says three things here about the enemy of the cross of Jesus.
Their lives, that is, their lives are characterized by three things.
He says there that they have their mind on earthly things.
Literally, their mind is 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, the scriptures,
but by popular culture instead.
And when there's a clash between the Bible and popular influences,
the Bible will lose out at every point.
Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter
when Peter had his mind on earthly things
and tried to discourage Jesus from going to the cross?
Do you remember what he said?
He turned to his best mate and called him by 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.
You have your mind set on earthly things.
You see, Peter wanted Jesus without a cross.
And 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.
They also glory in their shame.
The very sins that Jesus died for on the cross are the very things that they delight in.
It's the very things that they continue to do and continue to do it in such a way
that it doesn't appear to matter.
It doesn't matter because God's going to forgive it anyway.
That's what God's in the business of doing.
To glory in shame is to keep doing the things that God doesn't want
and to think it's okay because Jesus, by the gospel of grace, has forgiven me anyway.
As Titus says, they say that they are Christians, but they deny it by their actions.
And so what glorying in shame is,
it's a blasé approach to holiness and the mortification of sin.
Of course, these people may well have been able to recite the Ten Commandments,
tick the box and say, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I don't obey,
and I obey all those things, pretty much in the same way as the rich young ruler.
But what about the acceptable sins amongst us?
You see, God, friends, God wants to deal with those acceptable sins as well.
The ungodliness, the anxiety, the frustration, the discontentment,
the unthankfulness, the pride, the selfishness, the grumbling, the lack of self-control,
the impatience, the irritability, the anger, the judgmentalism, the envy, the jealousy,
the worldliness, the gossip, the slander, the lying, the embellishment of truth,
the greed, the laziness, the gluttony, the apathy, the abuse of power,
the manipulation, and the list goes on and on and on.
Those things which don't seem such a big deal are a big deal to God.
And those who glory in their shame don't think those things matter.
When you go hard after God, those stones get turned over and they get dealt with by God.
It is painful and raw to allow God to weed around in those closely held sins in our lives
because the life of sin is attractive, it is easy, and it feels so good.
And so that's why so many Christians just stop.
They get to a point, confession of sin, and then they stop
and just get used to a certain pattern of behaviour.
I've come to Christ, I've got salvation, I'm going to get to heaven and that's okay with me.
The enemy of God also has their stomach as their God, that is their gut is their God.
They pander to their physical desires and urges.
It's what they feel that they want to do is what they do.
The words of Jesus, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me, have been forgotten.
They've been forgotten.
They have come to Christ, but they don't want to keep denying.
That is the enemy of the cross and their destiny is destruction.
Friends, the cross of Christ is where the war on God ended.
It is where God dealt with our sin, forgave our sin, forgave our rebellion.
It is only through Jesus that we are able to escape a destiny of destruction.
And so why go hard after God in Christ?
Because destruction is the destiny of those who don't.
But we also get another reason why we should go hard after God in Christ.
It's in verse 20.
Have a look at it there in your Bibles.
The alternative destination is citizenship of heaven, where the Lord Jesus reigns.
Citizenship is really important.
On the most part, for those of us who were born citizens of this country, we just take it for granted.
Citizenship is something you just generally take for granted.
It's not something that most of us have had to take the time to even bother earning.
We just kind of get it when you're born here.
That's it.
Citizenship is important because it provides protection and care and significance.
If you are a refugee, that is, if you are a citizen of no country, then you don't have anyone to protect you.
And refugees generally are fairly nervous.
Citizenship matters when you don't have citizenship.
And that was something that mattered for our church earlier this year, when we were fighting for citizenship because life and death were at stake.
Citizenship matters.
It's about belonging somewhere and all the privileges that come with it.
So, for instance, just over 100 years ago, a Spanish court condemned to death a man for a crime that he had apparently committed.
However, this man was an American citizen and he was British by birth.
And so the two ambassadors of those respective countries said that the Spanish authorities had no right to put him to death.
The Spanish authorities basically ignored them and so they marched this guy out to be shot, stuck him on the wall.
But following out behind the firing squad were the ambassadors of both of those countries.
And as the firing squad raised their guns to shoot this guy, the ambassadors walked out and put the British flag and the American flag.
They wrapped this guy in the British and the American flag and then said to the captain of the firing squad,
you fire and we will bring both of our empires down upon Spain.
And the guys lowered their guns and...
I don't know what that is.
That's the firing squad.
Ticked off, decided to shoot someone else.
The guys lowered their guns and they walked away.
The guy was wrapped in a couple of bits of cotton, but he may as well have been wearing armour protection because in that moment he was impervious to destruction.
and if you are a friend of the cross of Christ
then you are impervious to destruction.
Trusting Jesus means that your citizenship is in heaven
and your destiny is not one of destruction.
Instead of destruction, it's a new body fit for eternity.
Did you notice it there?
We're not just being changed on the inside,
that's what he's doing now,
but then our bodies will be completely renewed,
bodies that won't need to cry,
bodies that won't feel unloved,
bodies that won't feel lonely,
bodies that won't feel sad,
bodies that won't have all those issues,
bodies that will never grow tired,
bodies that won't break down on you.
That is the privilege of the citizen of heaven.
And notice too that what Paul says here,
it talks about our citizenship,
he doesn't say we will have citizenship in heaven,
he says we do have citizen.
It is a present tense.
If you are a Christian,
then you are already a citizen of heaven.
That is your home.
That is where you are heading to.
And that is why the citizen of heaven does not just wait,
but they eagerly await for their saviour to come.
They are bursting to get there.
And verses 12 to 16 show us what that looks like.
And let me say that these verses,
verses 12 to 16,
explode the false logic
that says if Christ has found us,
then we don't need to seek him anymore.
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 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.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet
to have taken hold of it,
but 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.
And 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.
Paul did not see his conversion to Christ
as a cage which held him back,
but as a catapult into the pursuit of holiness.
The irresistible grace of Christ
overcoming Paul's rebellion
did not make Paul passive.
He did not sit back and say,
well, well, it's all the work of God,
I don't do anything,
I follow my arms
and I just wait for him to come back again.
It actually made him powerful.
I take that 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10.
By the grace of God,
I am who I am
and his grace within me
was not without effect,
because I worked harder than everyone else.
It's not a passive thing,
grace,
in his mind.
Grace is power.
And the best commentary on these verses,
I think,
is in chapter 2,
verses 12 to 13.
Work out your salvation
in fear and trembling.
That's the call.
Guys, get on with it,
is what he says.
Get on with it.
Work it out.
Work hard at it.
Strain towards it.
Work out your salvation
in fear and trembling.
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.
Not even for a little bit.
It simply confirms it.
Twice in these verses,
he affirms it is God
who has taken hold of him.
But in the same,
the very same verses
that he calls us
to pursue
and to grasp hold of
and to continue
to move forward,
to go hard after God,
he calls us,
he says that God
has already taken hold of him
in order to do that.
So,
this is what I think he's saying.
Our work,
that is in the pursuit,
the grasping
to get hold of Christ,
the moving forward,
our work
is his work
for his glory
when done independence
on his sovereign grace.
That's confusing?
I'll say it again,
just in case.
our work
is his work
for his glory
when done independence
on his sovereign grace.
The most fundamental reason
why the Christian
must go hard after Christ
is that Christ
is in the Christian
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.
Follow my example,
brothers,
and take note of those
who live according
to the pattern
that we gave you.
And what was the pattern
that Paul gave them?
It's there in 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 want to know Christ
and I want to be like Christ.
The whole focus
of his life
was being made
more and more
like Jesus
until the day
he met Jesus
face to face.
We saw that
back in Philippians 1.21.
For to me,
to live is Christ
and to die
is to gain,
to get just more
of Christ.
That is his life.
And so it is
a dodgy logic
that insists
that if we have found Christ,
we need seek him
no more.
As one writer
wrote last century,
to have found God
and still to pursue him
is the soul's paradox
of love,
scorned indeed
by the too easily
satisfied religionist,
but justified
in happy experience
by the children
with a burning heart.
Or as another writer
probably put it
a little bit more
simply than that,
was
wherever there is
true grace,
there is a desire
for more grace.
I think what he's saying
there is
that whenever
there is
true grace,
true grace
doesn't lead
to apathy
and laziness
in discipleship.
It leads to
wanting to strive
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 so friends,
that is why
we must go hard
after God.
We must go hard
after God
because
we are citizens
of heaven
and going hard
after God
confirms that
we are citizens
of heaven
or alternatively
our destiny
is destruction
and the warning
is clear.
so how
then can we
learn from
Paul?
What examples
does he give us
in these passages?
There's clearly
a lot more
than just the few
that are here
but I want to
say a couple
of things,
three things.
Firstly,
develop
holy
dissatisfaction.
Develop
holy
dissatisfaction.
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
that he is.
And I just
ponder this
question,
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?
I think
it's an
incredible
indictment
when potentially
the greatest
theologian
of the last
hundred years,
well regarded
by some
anyway,
J.O.
Packer,
has said
that modern
evangelicalism
is virtually
absent
of
communion
with God.
Communion
with God
is almost
absent
in modern
evangelical
churches.
I think
that's
amazing.
And he's
not using
the word
broadly,
he's talking
reformed
evangelicals
when he
used that
term.
It is a
wonderful
thing to
have been
taken
possession
of by
Christ,
but it
is a
thousand
times more
wonderful
when we
realise
that we
are taken
possession
of people
who remain
sinful
like you
and me.
I find
that
incredible.
The first
step in
going hard
after the
holy God
then is
to develop
a holy
dissatisfaction
with your
spiritual
life.
And I
emphasise
your
spiritual
life.
Let me
tell you
that what
comes
naturally
to us
is a
dissatisfaction
with other
people's
spiritual
life.
There are
plenty of
people that
we can
point the
finger at
and say
that person
needs to
pray a
little bit
clearer,
that person
can't
articulate
the faith
well enough,
that person
doesn't even
know the
faith as far
as I'm
concerned,
that person
needs to
come to
church more,
that person
needs to
give more,
that person
needs to
serve more,
and it's
so easy
to just
be dissatisfied
with everyone
else's
spiritual life.
And the
call here
is to
be dissatisfied
with your
spiritual life.
Being able
to point
out
others'
lack of
pursuit of
God
doesn't
somehow mean
that you
are.
Being able
to point
out other
people's
immaturity
doesn't
somehow mean
that you
are mature.
What the
call here,
I believe,
is to stand
in front of
the mirror
of the
word and
recognize that
you have
not yet
arrived,
and you
won't this
side of
heaven.
The
hearty
admission of
our spiritual
imperfections is
the starting
point for the
pursuit of
God.
I want
to suggest
to you
that real
humbling
guilt is
extraordinarily
rare.
I think
99% of
our bad
feelings,
about
ourselves
that is,
are rooted
in pride.
For
example,
suppose you
go to a
dinner party
and you
discover that
you are
dressed
inappropriately
for the
occasion.
You knock
your drink
over at
the table,
the joke
you attempt
falls flat,
you call
your host
by the
wrong name,
you tread
on the
dog's
tail and
you make
the kids
cry.
How do
you feel
when you
walk out
from that?
You feel
pretty rotten,
you feel
embarrassed,
you're depressed,
you hate
yourself,
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 the
glory of
God are
very,
very rare.
But people
who are
depressed and
immobilized and
angry because
their behavior has
prevented them
from having a
reputation of
being really
cool socially,
of being
intelligent and
being competent
are very,
very,
very common.
When I call
us to develop a
holy dissatisfaction
with our
spiritual life,
I'm asking us
to do something
which is rare,
not common.
I'm 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.
Develop a
holy dissatisfaction
with your
spiritual life,
friends.
The second
step in going
hard after God
is to forget
those things
which lie
behind,
verse 13.
I take this
to mean that
anything in
your or our
background which
hinders the
pursuit of God
should be put
out of the
mind.
The point is
not never
look back.
The point is
only look back
for the sake
of pressing
forward.
That's what
it's about.
Never
substitute
nostalgia
for hope.
Individually
and corporately,
we must be
careful of
looking back,
my friends.
Even
memories of
successes in
the past
can make us
smug and
satisfied in
the present.
I remember
that I
started telling
you, I
remember one
incident in my
life where
God took me
through a
really difficult
time and
he grew me
remarkably and
in amongst
all of that
time of,
it was hard,
it was
persecution,
and other
things that
were going
on.
God brought
me forward
and I
started to
realise after
a few years
that I
used to
recount the
old stories.
I remember
a time
when.
And it
dawned on
me one
day,
Steve,
that's like
ten years
ago,
man.
What's
now?
What's the
stories now?
God's
love?
Don't be
smug about
what happened
then ten
years ago.
How's God
working in
you now?
How are you
pressing forward
now?
memories of
successes in
the past can
make us
smug and
self-satisfied
as individuals
and as a
church.
Memories of
failure can
make us
hopeless and
paralyzed in
our pursuit
of God.
Never look
back like
that.
We ought to
give thanks,
humbly give
thanks for
God's successes
amongst us in
the past or in
our lives in
the past.
We must
make humble
confessions for
the failures
that have been
there but we
must always
turn to the
future and
go hard after
God.
If we keep
looking back we
become museums.
The final step
in going hard
after God is
that straining
forward to
what lies ahead.
Verse 13
again.
What Paul does
is he provides
us as an
illustration of
straining forward
in 1 Corinthians
9.
He says
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 I 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
Mexico Olympics
Tanzanian
runner John
Stephen
Akwari fell
early in the
race and
badly damaged
his leg.
He got up,
he got a
bandage on
his leg,
got up and
he limped
the rest of
the race and
he finally
crossed the
finishing line
an hour and
a half after
the last person
had finished.
And by the
time he
crossed the
finishing line
it was kind
of getting
dark, it
was sort of
twilight,
sun was
going down
getting a
bit dark
and a lot
of people
had gone
home,
they were
virtually shutting
down the
place for the
night anyway
and there
was a
photographer,
a reporter
there sorry,
who was
packing up
his gear
and until
he heard
this applause
with a few
people that
were left,
turns around
and the few
people left
in the stadium
are doing,
there's a
standing ovation
and then
he noticed
what's going
on,
there's this
guy limping
around the
track and
he takes a
photo of it,
it's actually
quite a famous
photo,
he takes a
photo of this
guy,
it's a bad
photo but a
famous photo
of him in
the twilight
limping towards
the finish
line,
he runs down
to the finish
line,
jams a
microphone in
his face and
says why
didn't you just
give up?
You clearly
weren't going
to win the
race,
you're badly
damaged,
you can't even
run,
why didn't you
just give up?
You know,
like save
yourself for
another day
or something
and John's
reply was
this,
you don't
understand,
my country
did not send
me 5,000
miles to
start a
race,
they sent
me to
finish it.
The way
to go hard
after God
is with all
the discipline
and self
denial of an
athlete,
that's the
way to go
hard after
God,
no matter
what the
cost is,
no matter
how difficult
it is,
no matter
what obstacles
are on the
way,
there is a
finish line
up there
and my
job is to
get to
that finish
line,
to press
on,
to strain
forward.
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
without discipline
and without
self-denial.
one of the
incredible things
that I love
to do is
to look at
biographies of
some of the
greats in the
past and
look at their
lives and
just to see
their pattern
of lives and
man, I tell
you what,
in one sense
they're to be
appreciated.
There are some
people you just
cannot emulate,
they're just
particularly gifted,
but there's
something particular
about some of
their lives which
you can emulate
and that is
their discipline
and their focus
and their
determination.
I mean,
Jonathan Edwards,
for instance,
used to get up
at four o'clock
every morning
and spend the
first three hours
of the day
in study
and in
prayer.
My
goodness,
that's
incredible.
You know,
this is the
day before,
you know,
in the middle
of winter,
in the New
England area,
he had to
stoke the
fire first,
he had to
try and
keep himself
warm,
doing it by
candlelight,
for goodness
sake.
God does
not promise
his riches
to aimless,
apathetic and
lazy disciples.
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.
And so I
plead with
you,
friends,
to be an
athlete,
to be a
spiritual
athlete.
Set yourself
a goal to
know more
of the
word of
God,
to grasp
more of
the will
of God,
to love
more of
the wonder
of God.
Make a
plan of
prayer and
study and
worship and
service and
go for it
with all of
your might,
with all of
your might,
God.
Because it
is Christ
working in
you,
dragging you
heavenward.
Heed the
warning this
evening.
Develop a
holy dissatisfaction
with your
spiritual
attainments.
Put out of
your mind
anything in
the past
which hinders
your pursuit
of God and
strain forward
like an
athlete.
For it is
God who is
working in
you.
working in
you.
We do
not run
in our
own strength
and all
the more
therefore we
can be
assured that
going hard
after God
will bring
us to know
him deeply
and enjoy
the sweet,
sweet confirmation
of our
citizenship in
heaven.
Let's pray.
Father God,
your word
as we looked
at tonight is
just so
challenging,
it is so
clear and
yet without
your spirit
we just
will not
have any
desire,
without your
work in
us,
any desire
to go
hard after
you.
Lord,
our hearts
are weak
and we
are feeble,
we are so
easily
distracted by
trivia and
irrelevancies,
we are so
apathetic,
we are so
comfortable in
religion and
so rescue us
we pray.
Rescue us
Father,
revive us
Lord so
that we
might go
hard after
you and
enjoy the
sweet
confirmation
of our
citizenship
in heaven
where the
Lord Jesus
reigns and
from where
he will
come and
establish his
rule and
take us to
be with him
in heaven.
Father,
help us to
press on
towards the
goal and
we ask it
for your
sake.
Amen.