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Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.
And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Throughout our study of the book of Philippians, I've on occasion have mentioned the three tenses of salvation.
Do you remember those?
Well, since the entire third chapter of Philippians chapter 3 is about salvation,
Paul touches in one way or another on each of these three realities of the Christian life.
And after defining true conversion in the first 11 verses of the chapter,
he moves to discuss the believer's sanctification in verses 12 to 16.
So we're moving past the past tense of salvation, the moment of conversion,
and now he's dealing with specifically this progressive sanctifying process of the believer.
And I want to draw your attention specifically to the first statement in verse 12.
Would you look at it with me?
Paul says,
It's not as though I had already attained this, either were already perfect.
And here's why we know that Paul is moving from conversion and justification in verse 12 into sanctification.
Because he says clearly,
The thing to which I'm referring, I have not yet obtained.
And I have not yet apprehended.
I've not yet been made perfect.
That glorification that is coming for me one day, I have not yet attained it.
So when we study this verse, we understand that Paul is not talking about not attaining salvation.
He's talking about not yet reaching a state of perfection.
The Bible clearly teaches that salvation is a present possession.
And it is eternally secured for any individual that will place saving faith in Christ alone.
The salvation and eternal life that God offers is not a potential salvation.
It's a definitive salvation.
When we come to Christ in faith, we don't place our faith in him in hopes that he will save us.
We place our faith in him with the definitive promise of God that he will save us.
It's our present possession eternal life is in that moment.
Let me point you to a couple scriptures.
In John chapter 10, Jesus said,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And then he says,
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
and no man will pluck them out of my hand.
In other words, Jesus is saying,
If you will come to me in faith, this eternal life that I offer you, you will receive.
It's guaranteed.
It's a definitive promise.
You will never perish.
Not only will you never perish, but there's no person on this planet that can strip this salvation away from you.
You are secure in my hands.
This life that I give is a definitive promise, not a potential promise.
So when Paul says in verse 12,
I've not already attained what I'm talking about.
I've not already been made perfect.
He's not talking about conversion.
He's talking about the sanctifying process.
It's important.
If the Judaizers were right, that one could earn salvation through good works and religious commitment,
there would never be a way to truly know if you had been good enough or if you had been committed enough.
Salvation would not be a present possession.
It would be a potential hope.
But God has told us clearly that he offers salvation not on the basis of our performance,
because as Isaiah said, our righteousness to him is like filthy rags in comparison.
But he offers salvation on the basis of his own love and grace.
And he's told us in his word that we can be absolutely certain that salvation is ours if we trust Christ.
John wrote in 1 John 5.13,
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life.
You can know today absolutely for certain that eternal life is yours.
And it's not a question as to whether or not you're good enough, as we've studied the last few Sundays.
It's a question on do you know Christ?
Not do you know about Christ, but do you know him?
Have you experienced his saving power by casting 100% of your faith on him for salvation?
Well, Paul's approach to the issue of sanctification here in righteous living is different than he approaches it in other letters.
Rather than providing a list of do's and don'ts,
he deals with sanctification in these verses as a matter of the mind and heart.
And he does that by continuing on in his testimony.
Now, he had already referenced in verse number 8 that he knew Christ personally.
Look at that.
He's speaking of his conversion.
He says,
Yea, doubtless in verse 8,
I count all things but loss for the surpassing value or worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
He had already known Christ personally.
In sanctification, in these verses, he was seeking to know Christ progressively.
So in verse 10, he proclaimed the benefits of knowing Christ as being receiving Christ.
Power over sin as receiving also partnership with Christ in suffering and loss,
and then the eternal life that only Christ can give.
And for Paul, this sets in motion a cycle.
Because he had experienced Christ in salvation in verse number 10,
he immediately felt the satisfaction that can only come from Jesus Christ.
But then immediately, a dissatisfaction settles into his heart.
Because he wanted to know Christ more.
And it sets in motion this cycle that exists in the heart of every believer I believe.
Look at what Paul says in verse 10.
He says,
Then look down at verse 12.
He says,
Not that I've already attained this sanctification.
Either we're already perfect.
But I press on.
I follow after.
So you can sense in salvation, Paul was totally satisfied in Jesus Christ.
And then because of that satisfaction, he couldn't get enough.
And he said,
I just want more of Christ.
I want to know him more.
I want to know more about him.
I want to know how I can please him.
I want to experience his power more and more and more.
And then each step of this progressive sanctification,
as Paul would know Christ more,
as he would understand the scriptures more,
he would be satisfied in Christ and then immediately dissatisfied again.
Because he just wants to know more.
That's indicative of the life of a true believer.
That once we experience what Christ offers in salvation,
we just want more and more and more of him.
And so Paul's testimony here in these verses
is really a testimony of this cycle.
And it's an encouragement for us to jump into the cycle ourselves.
To be satisfied in Christ and then to be dissatisfied
with how little we know about him
and how little we experience his power.
And just to want more.
And in wanting more,
pursuing him,
following after,
pressing on,
as Paul says.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter five and verse six
in the Beatitudes,
in his Sermon on the Mount,
he said,
blessed are those which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness.
Well,
what is righteousness in the scriptures?
Righteousness comes from Christ.
We can't be righteous on our own.
It comes through his power.
So when Jesus says,
blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
it's not just a blessing on those who want to get their life together.
It's a blessing on those who want to know me
and want to know my righteousness
and want to know my power.
And then he says,
blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness
for they shall be satisfied,
he says.
They shall be filled.
It's a promise that God gives.
What a glorious promise that is.
That as we sense the dissatisfaction of this world
and we sense the dissatisfaction of this life
and we sense the dissatisfaction of our present walk with Christ,
that when we hunger after him
and we thirst after him,
his promise is,
you will be filled.
If I'm what you hunger for,
I will fill you.
As long as you're hungering and thirsting after this life
and the sins of this world
and what it has to offer,
you will feel empty.
But as long as you are hungering and thirsting after me,
you will be filled.
We've been singing this song the last few weeks,
Jesus Strong and Kind.
And I think it's the second verse that says,
Jesus said that if I thirst,
I should come to him.
No one else can satisfy.
I should come to him.
For the Lord is good and gracious.
He is strong and kind.
And we rejoice in that truth.
Well, let me quickly give you three things
about these passages as Paul breaks it down for us.
Number one, in verse 12,
we see that sanctification is a purposeful call.
It's a purposeful call.
Look at verse 12 with me again.
Paul says,
not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect,
but I follow after or I press on
if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Now the phrase I follow after
is meant to open our understanding
to Paul's intensity.
The Greek term has references to war
and the pursuit of victory in a battle.
And Paul's point when he says,
I follow after is this sanctifying process,
this following after Christ
and living a holy and righteous life
is something that I'm fighting for
in the way that a soldier fights
to win the battle on the battlefield.
It was his intensity.
He said, I am fighting for this.
I am fighting to be like Christ in this way.
But since his salvation was already secure,
what was the motivation for him to fight in this way?
If he was already positionally righteous before God,
what was the point in being so concerned
with spiritual growth now?
And that's a valid question.
And it's one we have to be able to answer.
And thankfully, Paul answers it in verse 12.
Look at the second half of the verse.
If that I may apprehend or lay hold of or achieve
that, notice this, for which,
that for which Christ has apprehended me
or I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
What Paul is saying is this life of righteousness
and sanctification is a divine call.
It is the purpose of Christ in saving us
to make us more like him.
Paul's goal in life was consistent
with Christ's goal in saving him.
And what was Christ's goal in saving him?
Romans chapter eight tells us.
You know this first verse well
that's helpful for us all the time.
And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose.
That is a reference to those who are saved,
who have believed.
And then he says in verse 29,
for whom God did foreknow,
he also did predestine.
He's referring to believers,
those who are saved.
He also did predestine to do what?
Be conformed to the image of his son.
What was the purpose in Christ saving you?
What's the purpose in God providing salvation to begin with?
To make us righteous.
To conform us to the image of his perfectly righteous son.
So when Paul looked at sanctification,
the pursuit of righteousness,
he viewed it as a divine call
that went part and parcel
with the divine call to salvation.
In other words,
every person that is a believer
has the call of God,
the purposeful call of God
to live a righteous life.
And this is logically consistent
with the doctrines of sin and salvation.
Think about it.
In conversion,
we recognize the holiness of God
set against our sinful condition.
And we realize that it's our sin
that separates us from God.
So if it's our sin that separates us from God,
and if the purpose in Christ dying on the cross
was to provide an atonement for that sin
and to provide reconciliation to God the Father,
why would we not desire
to continue in righteousness after salvation?
It only makes sense.
Paul wasn't pursuing a righteousness
to earn his salvation,
but he recognized a holy life
as a divine call
on all those who have already received salvation.
Listen, we have a divine call of God
to pursue holiness.
And it should be our lifelong pursuit.
God is not content for Christians
to have a careless attitude toward righteous living.
In fact, the command of the scripture
is that we follow God's pattern of righteousness,
which is a perfect pattern.
Remember what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1.
He says that we are to gird up the loins of our mind,
to be sober and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you.
And then he says the way that we do that
is as obedient children,
not fashioning ourselves
according to the former lust in your ignorance,
but as he which has called you to salvation is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of life.
Because it is written,
be ye holy for I am holy.
It's a divine call.
It's a call that we must take seriously.
And the question for this
is what is your spirit toward this call?
Are you more like the liberals or the libertines
that would say I'm positionally righteous before Christ?
That means I can just live the way that I want
and just ask forgiveness and everything's good.
But that's not the spirit of a Christian at all
in the scripture.
The spirit of a believer is that we pursue Christ.
We are not content with our sin.
We want to leave that behind.
What's your spirit towards righteousness?
It's not that you're perfect
and not that you expect to be perfect,
but do you want to be?
Do you desire to please the Lord in that way?
Do you desire to pursue holiness in that way?
That was Paul's heart
and it was the whole purpose of him bringing up
those words in verse 12,
that this was a divine call of God
and it was a call of God
that he was going to pursue with all of his might.
So we see a purposeful call.
Secondly, we see a passionate pursuit.
Passionate pursuit.
Look with me at verse 13 and 14.
He says,
brothers, I count not myself to have apprehended.
I'm not there yet.
He's reemphasizing again his own deficiency.
But this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind,
reaching forth under those things which are before,
I press toward the goal of the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
It's a passionate pursuit.
Something he was pursuing with all of his might.
Now, in verse 12,
it reveals the purpose in pursuing righteousness.
Verses 13 and 14 show us the procedure
that we're to follow in pursuing righteousness.
What's so helpful about Paul's approach here
is that he keeps the focus on our mindset
rather than on a specific list of sins to avoid
and works to embrace.
Now, he could have just given a whole list of things
that the Philippians needed to do
in order to please God
and a list of things they needed to avoid
in order to please God.
And it wouldn't have been wrong for him to do that.
He did that in several other letters.
I think that the reason that he didn't
is because what they were dealing with
in terms of the Judaizers,
it would have seemed like it was no different
than what the Judaizers were saying.
So he leaves off the list for a moment
and I think he does it helpfully.
Instead of giving a list of rules,
Paul zeroed in on what is the root
of all outward behavior.
You know what it is?
The attitude of the heart.
The root of everything we do,
the root of everything we say,
the root of everything we think
is the attitude of the heart.
So instead of giving a whole list of things
that these Philippians needed to do
and a whole list of things that they needed to avoid,
Paul zeroes it into a singular focus
and he says, just pursue Christ.
If you will just pursue Christ
and pursue him passionately,
all the other things will fall into place
the way that they need to.
Focus on Christ.
Jesus said in Matthew 15,
that the things which proceed out of the mouth
come from the heart
and they defile the man.
And then he says,
for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts
and murders and adulteries
and fornications and thefts
and false witness and blasphemies.
And again in Luke chapter six,
Jesus says,
a good man out of the good treasure of his heart
brings forth that which is good.
And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart
brings forth that which is evil.
For of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh.
The truth is what is within you
will eventually work its way out.
So fill your heart with Christ.
Focus your attention on his word.
Focus your attention on who he is
and what he desires.
Fill your heart with him.
Fill your heart with his truth
so that what proceeds out of your heart
is grace and truth and righteousness and love
and all of the things that exist in Christ Jesus.
Forget the list and just focus on Christ.
There's two things he says in regards to this
as a part of this procedure.
In verse 13 he says that he has a singular focus.
A singular focus.
Paul sums up his entire life's purpose
into one focus.
To pursue Christ.
Ultimately,
Paul's mind wasn't focused on righteousness itself.
It wasn't righteousness for righteousness' sake.
His focus was on pleasing Jesus.
When he said,
this is my goal,
it wasn't my goal
is to read my Bible
a certain amount of times a day
and my goal isn't to pray
a certain amount of hours a day
and my goal isn't to avoid this list of sins.
He zeroed it all in on just saying,
my goal is Christ.
My goal is Christ.
And in my pursuit of Christ,
I'm gonna study his word
and I'm gonna pray
and I'm gonna avoid sin,
but I'm not focused on that
so much as I'm just focused on Christ.
He had a singular focus.
The truth is that
true righteousness
will only come
whenever our hearts and minds
are focused singularly
on knowing and pursuing Jesus.
Verses 13 and 14,
as I mentioned a moment ago,
use words that in Greek
would have illustrated
to the Philippian readers
a sprinter
who would have run
in the Isthmian Games
or the Olympic Games
of the time.
Basically, Paul's saying
just like a runner
who has focused
on winning the race,
he was focused
on knowing and pleasing
his Savior.
And it's not the only time
he uses this illustration.
In fact,
if you're keeping notes,
write down 1 Corinthians 9,
24 to 27
and reference it later.
If I go there,
I'll spend too much time on it.
So I'm just gonna trust you
to study it later.
But his focus really had
two features in this verse.
Forgetting the past
and looking forward to Jesus.
Look at the first one
in verse 13.
This one thing I do,
forgetting those things
which are behind.
Have you ever watched
videos on YouTube
of showboats in races?
You know what I'm talking about?
Those who are running track
and they at least think
that they're way ahead
of the other people.
And right before they get
to the finish line,
they start to showboat
a little bit.
And here comes the scrawny guy
that runs right past him
to steal the victory
at the very end.
It's not that the other guy
was faster.
It's that he was more focused.
He's more focused on the race.
We've all seen videos like that.
It doesn't just apply to running.
I remember distinctively
as I was studying this week,
the,
was it 2016,
the Summer Olympics
were in Brazil,
in Rio.
You remember all of the buildup
in anticipation
to the 200 meter butterfly
men's final
that had Michael Phelps.
Michael Phelps was
the United States
phenom in swimming
and he was chasing
this world record
gold medals,
I think is what it was.
And there was all this buildup
to this specific race.
The butterfly was one
of his better races,
but in 2012 in London,
he had barely lost
and taken second place
to a guy from South Africa
named Chad LaCleude.
Do you remember?
And there was all this buildup
to this race in Rio.
And if you remember,
right before they all went out
to their marks
for this race
in the final race,
Michael Phelps
was sitting down
on his chair
on a folding chair
and Chad LaCleude
was in front of him
with his headphones on
and he was shadowboxing
in front of Michael Phelps.
He was taunting him.
And even the lead up
to this taunting
on this day
was lots of media coverage
where Chad LaCleude
was,
he was running his mouth,
I beat him before
I'm going to beat him again,
and all that kind of stuff
was coming out.
Like he had built himself up huge.
And there was all these memes,
you can Google them today,
there were all these memes
of Michael Phelps
where he had this death stare
on Chad LaCleude
like he hated his guts.
It's so funny
to pull him up online.
Well, they come to the race,
Chad LaCleude
is in lane five,
Michael Phelps
is in lane six.
The gun goes off
and they jump in the pole
and they go about it.
Halfway through the race,
they were pretty close.
Michael Phelps
was just ahead of Chad LaCleude,
but they're right next
to each other
and here's what Chad LaCleude
starts to do
in the second half of the race.
Every time he comes up for breath,
he looks to his right
or his left,
I can't remember which side it was.
He looks to his right
to see where Michael Phelps was.
He wasn't focused on the wall,
which is where he was swimming towards.
He kept looking at Michael Phelps.
He was so concerned
of beating Michael Phelps
and then in contrast to that,
the camera zeroes in on Michael Phelps
and he couldn't care less
where Chad LaCleude is.
His eyes are focused ahead.
Every time he comes up for breath,
his eyes are looking at the wall
every time
and he ends up going
and winning the race
and Chad LaCleude
didn't even finish
in first, second, or third.
He didn't even place
and the point was
he was focused and distracted
or he was distracted
by all the things
that were around him.
He wasn't focused on the goal.
Michael Phelps was focused on the goal
and it helped him
to win the race
but there's all these things
that come into our lives
that prevent us
from focusing on the goal
and Paul says
it's all summed up
in forgetting the past.
Forgetting the past.
Some of us
are so focused
on past successes
!
that our life now
is consumed
with complacency.
We live in all the things
that we used to do
for the Lord
and we thrive
on all the good old days
of church
and all the things
that we used to do
and what we do
when we look at our life now
is we just see complacency.
We're satisfied
with what we've done
in the past
and so instead of pursuing
forward after Christ
we just sit still
hoping that our past achievements
were good enough.
Some of us
on the other extreme
are so mindful
of our past failure
that we're paralyzed
and what's so wonderful
about what the Bible
tells us about God's grace
is there is no sin
in your life
that he will not forgive.
Think about Paul's life.
He had an amazing list
of accomplishments
even after his conversion.
Most people regard him
as the greatest Christian
to ever live
and I hate quantitative
statements like that
but there's no doubt
he was a model believer
for us to follow
and he had all these things.
He could have said
I started all these churches.
I've suffered
in all these ways
and he would have been fine
with what he had done
in the past.
He also had a full list
of past failures
that none of us
have been guilty of.
He was a murderer
and he wasn't just a murderer
he murdered Christians
because they were Christians.
He was a filthy sinful man
but neither his past successes
nor his past failures
caused him to lay back
in his pursuit of Christ.
Forgot the things
that were behind him.
He didn't get distracted
by what was on his left side
or his right side.
And then the second part
is reaching forth.
This word pictures
a runner who's grasping ahead.
It literally means to grasp.
It's grasping ahead
after the finish.
He says not only
am I forgetting
what's behind
I am focused
on what's before.
And the singular focus
that he had
was Jesus Christ.
It wasn't just
a singular focus
it was a determined effort.
Look at verse 14.
Perhaps the most famous verse
in the entire book.
I press toward the mark
or the goal
is what that means.
I press toward the goal
for the prize
of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
The prize and the goal
wasn't an achievement
or an accomplishment.
The prize and the goal
in verse 14
is Christ.
That was his focus.
That's what he cared about
and that's what he pursued.
And since that's what
he was pursuing
Christ
he was willing
to discipline himself
in any way possible
in order to properly
pursue Christ.
When a runner
prepares for a race
I've been able
in my life
to run two full marathons
and both times
it took several months
six, seven, eight months
of preparations
to get ready for that.
Which is why
I don't do it
very often now.
It's a lot of work.
It's very early mornings.
It's getting up
on some occasions
at 3.30 in the morning
to go for a 20 mile run
so that I can be at work
by nine o'clock.
It's thinking about
everything that I put
in my mouth
because the bad food
could mess up
my training
and it could affect
the way that I was
trying to run
and how I was trying
to reach my goal
and it was months
of this.
Months of this.
The point was
if I wouldn't have
done the training
if I would have
not cared about
my diet
I would have never
been able to run
that race very well
either one of them.
Paul disciplined
his body spiritually
in regards to sin
and in regards
to religious accomplishment
it wasn't for the sake
of his salvation
but it was because
he was saved.
He was determined
he was determined
to do whatever
he needed to do.
The struggle is
we get to all
of these gray areas
in our life
where we're not
real sure
if this is an exact
right or wrong issue
and almost always
if our pursuit
isn't Christ
we lean toward
the more sinful
way of living.
Even if it's not a sin
the focus of our mind
isn't Christ
the focus of our mind
is our fulfillment.
Paul says
I discipline my body
and I pursue Christ
with everything
it's a determined effort.
In any kind of achievement
or any kind of goal
that we ever have in life
any difficult endeavor
one has to determine
if the reward
is worth the effort.
For the Christian
Christ is the reward
and there's no effort
too great
to keep us
from pursuing him.
I mentioned
Eric Little
and Chariots of Fire
earlier.
Eric Little
really is a great
hero of the faith
if you ever study
his life
I would encourage
you to do that
read one of his biographies.
He was known
as the Flying Scotsman
right Bob?
He was the Flying Scotsman
and he was a
very very fast runner
he was an even more
committed Christian
and he ultimately
gave his life
as a martyr
basically in China
on the mission field
is where he ended up
dying I think in the 1940s
at the end of World War II
he was in an internment camp there.
But before that ever came about
in the 1920s
he was chosen to run
for Scotland
in the Olympic Games.
Before he ever got
to the Olympic Games
there was a specific race
when he was on the British team
and they were running
against France
and I can't remember
exactly the place
Bob may remember
but where they're running together
and right at the beginning
of the race
might have been
the 100 yard dash
could have been
the 440 meter actually
right at the beginning
of the race
he tripped over another runner
and he fell.
He didn't just fall
on the track
he fell off the track
and by the time
he got back up
to his feet
all the other runners
were about 30 meters
ahead of him.
Most runners today
throw up their hands
be upset
at whoever
tripped them
and just went
to wherever
their coaches were.
That's not what
Eric Little did.
He gets up
as is portrayed
on Chariots of the Fire
fantastically
and he begins to run
and he ran
as hard as he possibly could
and not only
did he make up
the 30 meter difference
between he
and all the other runners
but he went on
to win the race
and he was known
for this particular posture
in his running
that when he was given
maximum effort
his knees were high
they said
that he was
the ugliest runner
to ever run.
His knees were high
he would throw
his head back
mouth agape
and he would grasp
like this
as he was running.
It was maximum effort.
He gave maximum effort
not only
on the track
and field
but he gave maximum
effort
in his Christian life
and that's exactly
the picture
Paul is painting here.
When he says
reaching forward
he's maximum effort
I'm doing everything
I can
to live the way
that God called me
to live.
Not because
I'm going to earn
anything from God
but because
this is why
he saved me.
This is my purpose
to glorify him
and I'm going to
pursue that
with passion.
And then finally
quickly
verses 15 and 16
we see a preemptive
warning
a preemptive warning.
Look at verse 15.
Paul leaves off
the illustration now
and he says
let us therefore
as many as be perfect
that just means
mature.
He's referencing people
that have experienced
some spiritual maturity
let us therefore
be thus minded
and if in anything
you be otherwise minded
God shall reveal
even this unto you
chastening
allowing you
to fall into sin
and face the consequences
of it
God will deal with it.
Nevertheless
where to
we have already attained
to the point
that we have grown
in our spiritual maturity
let us walk
by the same rule
let us continue
on in it
let us mind
the same thing.
He was reemphasizing
the fact
that our pursuit
of knowing
and pleasing Christ
is a lifelong pursuit.
And essentially
what Paul was telling
these believers
to do
especially the ones
that had experienced
a level of
spiritual maturity
he was essentially
telling them
not to rest
on their laurels.
Do you know that phrase?
I don't think
it's so popular now.
It used to be
maybe
the late 1800s
as I've tried
to look up
its origins.
To rest on your laurels
it's a nod
to the Greek games
in ancient Greece.
What the runners
would win
what would be
their reward
at the end of the race
was a laurel wreath
that would be placed
on their heads.
The Romans
eventually adopted
this as well
instead of just
giving it to runners
they gave it to
generals that had won
great victories
in battle
and they would come back
and they would parade
them through Rome
with these laurel wreaths
on their head.
It represented victory.
It was accomplishment.
Not to rest
on your laurels
means not to be
so infatuated
with your past achievements
that you no longer
put forth any effort.
And essentially
what Paul is telling
these believers is
I know you've
come a long way
and the Lord's
been good to you
and he has sanctified
you to this extent
but don't rest
on your laurels.
Keep pursuing
Christ.
Now think about
where Paul's at here.
this is a man
who at this point
is in his 60s
he has spent
four years now
in prison
it's only a matter
of time
before he's beheaded.
We know historically
he gets out of this
imprisonment
two years later
he's back in prison
ultimately he's put
to death
beheaded.
Now as a 60 year old
man who had suffered
in incredible ways
and had amazing
accomplishments
in the Christian faith
it was this man
that was saying
I keep pursuing
Christ.
I'm not
settling
and resting
on my laurels.
As Paul reflected
on his suffering
in Acts chapter 20
and as he even
looked ahead
to the suffering
that he imagined
he would continue
to experience
he said his one goal
was to finish
his race strong.
Acts chapter 20
told the Ephesian elders
he said none of these
things move me.
That's a reference
to his suffering.
None of these things
move me.
Neither count I
my life dear
so that I might
finish my course
with joy.
He just wanted
to run strong.
He knew he wouldn't
be perfect.
He just wanted
to pursue it
with his life
because it was
God's call.
And at the end
of his life
when he knew
he was about to die
he wrote to Timothy
in 2 Timothy 4
and he said
in looking back
I have fought
a good fight.
I have kept
the faith.
I have finished
my course.
What a wonderful
testimony that is.
To understand
not only
our call
to living
a righteous life
the passion
to which
we're pursuing
but to see
that at the end
of our life
we can look back
and say
I finished
my course.
I wasn't
perfect
but it didn't
stop me
from trying
to be.
And that
in essence
is the spirit
of Paul's
message here.
God's not
calling you
to perfection
he knows
you'll never
achieve it.
What he's
calling you
to do
is pursue
him.
And so
the question
for us
today is
are we
pursuing
him?
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for listening
to this
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by Lakeside
Bible Church.
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