Heavenly Father, I thank you that we're able to come into a building and to worship you,
that we're able to pray to you, we're able to study your word,
we're able to have fellowship and meet with each other.
I just thank you for that, Lord.
There might be some of us here who have had a hard year,
and there might be also people here who have had a good year.
But I ask all those distractions would just fall away,
and we would just be focused on what you want to say to us and on your glory and on nothing else.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So we're in that time of year now where Christmas has happened.
We've done all the spending.
We've done all the family stuff.
And we're kind of in that limbo right now between Christmas Day and New Year's
where we don't know when the stores are open or what to do.
And if you're anything like me, during this time over the past couple of years,
I've tried to use this time to reflect on the past year or things from my past.
I haven't been able to do that this year because my brother-in-law is getting married tomorrow,
so it's been very chaotic.
But normally I would be reflecting about certain things that I've set,
like goals I've set over the past couple of years.
And the funny thing is, our culture loves to set goals.
You see it all in books everywhere, all in bookstores.
You see it in magazines.
You see it online in podcasts.
All over the place.
And if you're anything like me, I personally set goals for a lot of things,
for my fitness, for my spending habits, even for my marriage, my friendships,
and for travel plans, for my dreams that I have to travel.
And maybe you're also like me, and maybe you failed at some of these goals.
Or maybe you also succeeded in some of these goals.
And it's interesting because Paul, in this text that we're about to look at,
talks about a goal.
He talks about straining towards a goal.
He talks about this ultimate goal.
This goal that is so great that he gave his life for this goal.
So if you could turn with me to Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 to 21,
I would like to take a closer look at this.
So again, it's Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 to 21.
And if you don't have a Bible, there's some up here.
Feel free to come up and grab one wherever you want.
If you don't have one, you can take it, bring it home, it's yours.
Or you can just read from the screen up there.
So as you're turning there, I will talk a bit about the context.
So this is a letter to a church in Philippi by the Apostle Paul.
Paul was writing this letter from a jail in Rome.
So this is one of his famous jail epistles.
And Philippi, this city, was a city refounded by the Roman emperor Augustus.
And because of that, it had special status.
It had status because it was the Augustian colony, which let it be exempted from certain taxes.
This town was found in eastern Macedonia.
It was found along an important Roman commercial road called the Ignatian Way.
This church would have been mainly Gentiles.
And these people in this church were friends of Paul.
You can see that in his writings when he writes this letter to the Philippian church
that he has this kind of friendly tone to them.
And he says he's visited them a couple times.
So he knows these people.
So let's take a look at this.
So at the beginning in verse 12.
Not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect,
but I press on to make it my own,
because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
So in the previous verses, you have to remember when you read the Bible,
you have to always take everything in the context of the book that's written.
You can't just pick verses out.
So in the previous verses of chapter 3,
Paul has been talking about, he talked about his past.
He talked about how he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.
He was a Pharisee.
He used to persecute the church.
And so he would have had this status
where he would have been considered very high,
almost above other people.
And then he threw it all away.
Why did he throw it all away?
But he says that he threw it all away
because everything is rubbish compared to knowing Christ,
compared to knowing Jesus Christ.
Another way to describe his level of how high he would have been in his society
was I'm currently reading Harry Potter.
And in it, there's two different types of wizards.
There's pureblood wizards, and then there's halfblood wizards.
And the way you're a pureblood wizard is if both your parents were wizards,
one's a wizard, one's a witch.
And if you're a halfblood, one is only magical, one is not.
So Paul would have been a pureblood.
He would have almost like a higher status.
People would have came to him for advice and all that.
And then he threw it all away.
He says it.
He got rid of it because he considered it rubbish.
Now what does he mean by obtained when he says,
not that I've already attained this or am already perfect?
Well, if you look at verse 11, he says,
that by any means possible, I may obtain the resurrection from the dead.
Now some of you here might be like, oh, time out.
Matt, you just said resurrection.
Don't you know we live in the 21st century?
These things don't exist.
It's been proven by science.
Well, I believe this because there's hundreds of eyewitness accounts of the resurrection.
They're written down.
It's the same way in the history books that are in our schools or in libraries.
The way they make, they write these history books is from eyewitness accounts of ancient,
like if there's something about the ancient wars, it's all written from eyewitness accounts.
And it's interesting because there's more, there's more written accounts on, for the resurrection
than there is for a lot of the, a lot of the great ancient wars that they're talked about in schools.
And it's interesting also that people are so quick to, to throw away that the resurrection
could actually happen, that this miracle could happen.
But then they're so quick to hold to the theory of evolution, which is also a miracle event.
The evolution theory is how, is how it's claimed that how the world came to be from a big bang.
But that takes also a faith to believe in.
That also takes a faith in a miracle event that happened.
But there's no eyewitness accounts of that.
So when Paul talks about a resurrection, we could actually believe this because there's,
there's written accounts of eyewitnesses.
So continuing in verses 13, brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I've made it my own.
But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
So Paul, he says he left behind, in the previous verses, he left behind the status he had.
He left behind, he left behind all these like sins he committed, everything.
He's, he's tried to forget about them to look forward.
Many of us have past hurts.
Many of us have these things that we've committed that we think are so bad that like no one could possibly love us.
Many of us have past accomplishments that we put our pride in, that we hold to.
How many of us can't seem to forget about our past?
Now I'm not saying, and Paul isn't saying that we shouldn't just block out our past,
that we shouldn't just, like we shouldn't suppress it.
We should remember our past.
But when our past controls us, that is when we, that is when it's wrong.
And that's what Paul does.
He wants to forget about the past so we can strain forward,
so he can put all his hope in Jesus, in Jesus Christ.
You could be here, and you don't know God.
And you don't, maybe you don't want to know God.
But you're tormented.
You could be tormented by these pains, these hurts,
or you could put all your pride in these accomplishments that you have.
The world tells you to never forget your past,
or to never forget where you came from.
But it offers you no way to deal with the pain of your past.
It says that it has certain things that could help you,
but in the end, it'll always fail.
And here Paul is saying there's something.
There's a hope.
There's something found in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
He strains forward, and that is what he's telling the church in Philippi,
the Philippians, and that's what also we could take from it.
And notice how he says strain in verse 13,
and press on towards the goal in verse 14.
Now, I'm really into climbing.
I've been climbing for about 10 years,
or I guess a little bit more than 10 years now.
And when you get to a certain point in rock climbing,
where once you've done all the easy stuff,
you have to start selecting routes that you want to spend more time in.
A route is when you start from the bottom and you get to the top of the cliff.
There's certain lines in the rock features that you climb,
weaknesses in the rock.
And when you pick these harder routes,
you have to actually train for them.
You have to train your fingers,
your tendons have to be strengthened,
you have to have a general fitness.
And when you pick these routes and you put all that time in,
the goal of climbing is to start from the bottom and get to the top without falling.
But when it comes to climbing,
when you get up to the hard parts,
this thing's called the crux,
the crux of the route.
If you hesitate,
you'll fall.
If you look back,
you'll fall.
And it's the same thing with Olympic athletes.
These people spend their entire lives for the one moment,
the one opportunity they have,
to try to get the gold medal.
And if an Olympic runner was running the race and it was really close,
if he looks back,
that would actually bring him back in the race
because it would reduce his speed.
So when they're running,
they're straining towards the goal,
the prize,
which to them is the gold medal.
But isn't Paul already a Christian?
Why must he strain?
Well,
any goal you set
and become slack in,
you won't achieve it.
And when Paul says,
the goal or prize,
what is he talking about?
He is talking about Jesus.
Jesus is the ultimate prize.
Jesus is the ultimate goal.
The finished work of the cross,
that is the goal,
that is the prize.
You see,
when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ,
you are instantly justified.
It's like,
there's this thing that's like,
the already happened.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross,
and when you put your faith and trust in it,
you're instantly justified.
You are right before God.
But then there's also a process after,
and that process is called sanctification.
So what that means is,
when you put your faith and trust in Jesus,
you're justified.
But that doesn't mean you continue on
just doing the same thing you're doing.
You have to actually do a 180
and go the opposite way.
Before I became a Christian,
I was involved in many,
like,
I was doing drugs,
I was a heavy drinker.
I come from a pretty rough past.
And when I became a Christian,
when I had that moment,
if I continued in what I was doing,
I wouldn't have been,
I wouldn't have been the right way.
You have to,
when you become a Christian,
you have to go the other way.
It's a higher calling.
And continuing in verse 15,
Paul says,
let those of us who are mature think this way.
And if in anything you think otherwise,
God will reveal that also to you.
Only let us hold true to what we have obtained.
Now when Paul says mature,
he's not talking about,
he's like,
it's not talking about older people.
When he says mature,
the word in the Greek
could also mean perfect.
But that kind of sounds a bit,
it sounds a bit like Paul's full of himself.
But that's not what he's saying.
What Paul is saying
is those who are,
who are mature slash perfect
are the ones who realize
they are not mature slash perfect.
They're the ones who realize
that they can do nothing
to obtain the prize.
They can do nothing
to obtain the goal.
They have to put all their faith
and trust in Jesus Christ.
They have to let him
win the race for them.
But some of you might be saying,
but surely I've been a good person
and that's enough
to get me right with God.
Other people could be saying,
but I've served at the church
for many years.
Isn't that enough?
Other people could say,
but I tithe
and I follow everything
that the Bible says.
Isn't that enough?
It's only when you realize
that the finished work
of the cross
and your faith in Jesus Christ
is the only way to be saved.
And when you realize that,
that is when you start the race.
That is when you get up
and you start going
towards the goal.
But it's so easy
to get pulled off to the side.
So that's why Paul says
we must strain,
we must press on
towards the goal.
Now as you read Philippians,
there's clearly,
there's a clear distinction
between two themes.
One is this theme of joy.
Paul says joy constantly
through this.
The other theme
is a theme of unity.
And it's interesting
when you look closely at it,
the only way you could get
this joy that Paul talks about
is in the unity.
unity.
And we see that
in verses 15 and 16.
Paul talks about being unified.
He talks about
that we need to,
you guys need to come together
and be unified.
So in climbing,
when you've done
all your training,
when you've done,
when you've picked your route
and when you're trying
to climb it,
you can't just go up
and climb it on your own.
You need a partner.
You need a belayer.
And this belayer
is the person
who feeds your rope out.
He's the one
who gives you all,
gives you the slack,
who keeps the rope tight
in certain spots
that may be a bit more dangerous.
He's the one
who catches you
if you fall.
And the rope,
the rope that's
between the two of you
holds you together
to the cliff.
It is what keeps you
to the cliff.
And most people
who climb without a rope
or without a partner,
unfortunately,
eventually fall
and they die
because they have nothing
to catch them.
And it's the same
with the church
except the gospel of Christ
is the rope.
That is what keeps you
together.
And you have the belayer.
You may think
you don't need fellowship
or you can't relate
to the people
at the church
or you've heard it all before
or the sermons
might be too long
or the service
might be too long
or it doesn't fit
with the way you feel
church service should be.
Well,
I encourage you
to reflect
and look around.
Are you alone?
Do you have
unbearable stress
and no one
to share the burden
with besides
it could be yourself
or your spouse?
We need each other.
It's all through
the New Testament.
It's all through
Philippians.
We need unity.
We need to be together.
And I know
church isn't perfect.
A lot of churches
have a lot of bad things
in it
but we're human.
We're not
perfect people.
And in verse 17
Paul says
Brothers and sisters
join in imitating me
and keep your eyes
on those who walk
according to the examples
to the example
you have in us.
When Paul says this
he's talking to them
because there's many
false teachers
around in the area
who are trying
to infiltrate the church
to make them
go in opposite direction.
And you could
and the way you could
tell a false teacher
is someone who's
contrary to the Bible.
He's contrary to what
they're talking.
So Paul
even though he is human
was confident
in the way he walked.
So he told them
to imitate him.
It's the same way
many people
I myself
will read like a biography
or watch things
on YouTube
about interesting people
and we try to copy them.
We try to live out
the way they live.
And it's kind of the same way
that's what Paul's saying
here.
He says
I follow
the Bible.
I follow scriptures.
So follow
what I'm doing.
And in verse 18
Paul says
for many of whom
I've often told you
and now tell you
even with tears
walk as enemies
of the cross
of Christ.
Their end
is destruction.
Their God
is their belly
and the glory
and their shame
with minds
set on earthly
things.
Now what is the enemy
of the cross
when he says that?
An enemy of the cross
is someone
who's contrary
to the gospel.
Who lives contrary
to the gospel.
But you've got to
look at this
because it says
to the cross
of Christ.
It doesn't say to you.
It's the cross
of Christ.
Christ.
So when there's
people who live
contrary to what
the Bible says
we're not to make
them our enemies.
We're to show them
Jesus.
We're to love
on people.
That is the calling
of a Christian
is to love on people.
Not to make people
our enemies.
Not to segregate people.
But to love on people.
And that is what
Paul's telling them.
And you see
that he cries
for them.
And why does he
cry for them?
Because when you
look at this
Paul knows
these people
that have fallen away.
He would have
talked to them.
He's talking about
Christians who have
fallen away.
My wife Amy
is a huge fan
of Christmas movies.
So I've been watching
Christmas movies
since like
beginning of November.
And one of the
Christmas movies
we watched this year
that I've never seen
this version
is The Christmas Carol.
And there's the
Jim Carrey version.
So The Christmas Carol
if you don't know
what it is
it's a book
by Charles Dickens
from the 19th century.
And
there's a moment
in this
in the movie
where
Scrooge
Scrooge is a man
who's
very stingy
with his money.
He didn't like anyone.
He kept to himself.
The only thing he wanted
to do was make
more money
and more money.
And he didn't want
to share any of it.
And there's a moment
on Christmas Eve
in The Christmas Carol
that he's visited
by his deceased
co-worker
the person he made
his business with.
And his name's Marley.
And Marley
warns Scrooge
that if he doesn't
change his ways
he's going to end up
the same way as him.
And Marley
when he comes into the scene
he's held by chains
to a box of money.
And he can't
grab the box of money
but he always tries
to get it.
But he can't
because he's a ghost.
He can't grab it.
He's tormented.
And there's a moment
when Scrooge
is pulled to the window
as Marley is leaving
after he warns him
that he'd be visited
by three ghosts.
And he looks out.
Scrooge looks out
into the city
and he sees
an entire city
of ghosts
who are controlled
by what they've idolized
through their lives.
And some are controlled
by money.
Some are controlled
by food.
Some are controlled
by their lust.
Some are controlled
by their debts.
Some are controlled
by just trying
to obtain power.
And you see them
going through
all the city
trying to obtain this
but they can't get it.
These are the people
that it's showing
that their end
is destruction
because they weren't
following
they didn't follow
the goal.
And they've tried to
they've tried to
when they're all this
they're trying to
they have no hope.
But as Christians
there is a hope
and that hope
is in Christ.
And that is the only thing
that will break you free
from your desires.
And when Paul talks
about these people
at their end
is their destruction
their God
is their belly
and they glory
in their shame
with minds
set on earthly things
you have to look at
when he says
mindset
when he says
mindset
he's talking about
people
who are
who are gone
the other way
who are
who does not
who aren't living
the Christian life anymore
they're going somewhere else
their minds are
completely set
on another direction.
It's not
he's not talking about
people who struggle
with sins
he's talking about
people who
who are actively
who are glorifying
in the way they live
that are contrary
to the Bible.
And Paul says
something very interesting
in verse 20
when he says
but our citizenship
is in heaven
and from it
we await a savior
the Lord Jesus Christ
who will transform
our lowly body
to be like
his glorious body
by the power
that enables him
even to subject
all things
to himself.
Now there's two
citizenships
that Paul is talking about
there's the worldly
citizenship
and to them
to the Philippian church
in Philippi
their citizenship
would have been
a higher value
in the Roman colonies
because
they were exempted
from taxes
they lived
in a prospering city
so to live there
to have that citizenship
was of great value
to have a Roman citizenship
you have to
pay a high price
unless you're born
into it
and then he talks
about heaven citizenship
heavenly citizenship
this citizenship
is a free
citizenship
that's offered
to everyone
getting a citizenship
in the world
is extremely hard
people come
overseas
and they have to
go through
all this paperwork
and spend many months
trying to get a citizenship
they have to pay
a high fee for it
but this citizenship
is freely given
when you put your faith
and trust in Jesus
all things
that pull you down
won't have their
hold on you
when you strain
for the prize
of seeing Jesus
face to face
when you run
with fellow believers
for the goal
you're freely given
your citizenship
will be in heaven
and Christ attained
that on the cross
there's nothing you can do
to attain it
you'll experience
joy of knowing
that you have
a father in heaven
and as we approach
this new year
why not set the goal
of straining towards
the prize
of the gospel
of Christ
straining towards
the ultimate
the ultimate prize
which is being
which is seeing Christ
face to face
and if you don't
know God
now is the time
to call out to him
now is to start
the race
now is the time
to put all the
distractions of the world
and to turn your eyes
to Jesus
now is the time
to know him
please stand
heavenly father
I thank you
thank you for
your word
I thank you for Jesus
and what he did
on the cross
I thank you for the
finished work
of Christ
I'm sure there's
people here
I myself
who struggle
with constantly
looking towards
this goal
and straining
towards it
I ask Lord
that you would
minister to us
you would work
in our lives
you would show us
that nothing else
nothing else
matters
except
except for you
and for
and your glory
and I ask
that you would
you would just
minister to us
Lord
in Jesus name
Amen