AGAIN I SAY REJOICE
PURSUING THE PRIZE OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY
PHILIPPIANS 3:12-4:1
INTRODUCTION
- I want to open today with some very familiar words. I am almost certain you will recognize them. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These words, of course, are from the beginning of the United States’ Declaration of Independence. The Declaration goes on to state that governments are set up, by the ones to be governed by them, in order to make sure those rights are protected.
- There is one line in that well known clause that has always jumped out at me, as I’m sure it has to many of you. It is “the pursuit of happiness”. This phrase has come to define, in many ways, what it means to be an American. The “American Dream”, as it’s called, is all about one’s ability to make a name or living for yourself. This is supposed to be the land where you can pursue you goals, pursue your hopes, pursue your dreams.
- For various people this means various things. Some choose to pursue money and make as much of it as they can at just about any cost. Others choose to pursue fame. Still others simply want a big family with lots of loved ones. That’s the beauty of our land. You are free to pursue what you wish. But that freedom can also be detrimental. Not all pursuits are worthy pursuits. Not all desires are worth giving into. Not all dreams are as great in reality as they are in our imaginations.
- As far as worthy pursuits go, today we will be addressing the greatest of them. The Apostle Paul is going to tell us with great fervor what his greatest pursuit was. And as we look at what he writes we will find a blueprint for following suit. Even as we live in a land where you are free to pursue almost anything you want to pursue, I am going to admonish us to pursue the prize in this text above all else.
- And what is that prize? It is the prize of Christian maturity. I found it interesting that when I looked up the word “maturity” most definitions indicated a state of completion. One definition read “complete in natural growth or development,” and another said “fully developed in body or mind”. Still another read “having little or no potential for further growth or expansion.”
- Those definitions seemed odd to me. If that is how we are to define maturity in the Christian life then we are all hopeless. None of us will ever reach the point where we have no potential for further growth – not on this side of the grave. So I would like to define maturity in a different way. And I want to draw my definition out of Philippians 3:12. So let’s read our entire passage, then we will start there.
[READ PHILIPPIANS 3:12-4:1]
- In these verses Paul is building upon what we looked at last time. The first eleven verses of this chapter consist of Paul laying out his earthly credentials for righteousness, then completely disregarding them as a basis for a right standing before God. We could say that Paul was outlining his past. In vv.12-21 and into v.1 of chapter 4 he will outline his present and his future.
- We’ll start with the present as we define Christian maturity. In v.12 of chapter 3 we are given the nature of maturity as it concerns the Christian life:
THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY: CHRISTLIKENESS
- The key word in v.12 is “this”. Paul writes: Not that I have already obtained this...Well, what is he talking about? We find out what “this” refers to when we look back at vv.10-11.
- There Paul has just boldly declared that he counts every supposed religious gain he had as loss and trusts only in Christ for his righteousness through faith. Then he writes in vv.10-11: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
- So what is the “this” that Paul had not yet obtained? It was knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection, sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and eventually resurrecting from the dead. It was being so close to Jesus that he acted like Jesus in every way at all times.
- And he sort of reiterates this when he says at the end of v.12: I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Your Bible might say: I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. What he’s saying there is that there is a reason why Christ makes us his own; why he takes hold of us through faith. The reason is so that we become like him.
- John Calvin said it this way in his commentary: “Paul was apprehended by Christ, that he might apprehend Christ.” Jesus sought after Paul, just as he does each of us who believe in him, so that we may know him and be like him. In Romans 8:29 Paul said it this way: For those whom he [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son... This has always been the plan of God: to make those whom he has known and loved from all of eternity like his Son Jesus Christ.
- That’s what Christian maturity is – being like Jesus. And Paul is clear that he had not already obtained this perfectly. He’s not saying that he didn’t know Jesus at all, or that he wasn’t living like Jesus at all. He’s being honest enough to say that even he, an Apostle, would never reach perfection in this life. And that’s the next point I would like us to see:
THE SELF-AWARENESS OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY: IMPERFECTION
- Three times in this passage Paul tells the Philippians that maturity does not equal perfection, but that those who are mature will recognize their imperfection. In v.12 he says: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. In v.13 he writes: Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. In other words, he did not consider to have taken hold of Christ-likeness perfectly. And in v.15 he states: Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. In essence he’s saying that if anyone is truly mature they will recognize their immaturity. Does that make sense? The more like Christ you become, the more you recognize how far you have to go.
- Now if I may get practical for a moment, here is where we usually get tripped up. There is a tendency to be satisfied with our relationship with Christ because we compare our maturity with that of other people. We think our Christian walk is fine because we are further along than other Christians around us: “I must be mature because I don’t struggle with theft.” “I must be mature because I don’t struggle with sexual sins.” “I must be mature because I’m in church 3 out of 4 Sundays a month and others only 2. Or, “I must be mature because I’ve memorized John 3:16.”
- Fill in the blank. It is very tempting for us to evaluate our maturity on the basis of what other people are or are not doing. That is wrong. Scripture warns us not to make false estimates of our spiritual condition. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says: Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. It’s not wrong to properly recognize your maturity, but it is wrong to think you are more mature than you really are. We do that when we compare ourselves to other people.
- The standard for our maturity is not what other people are doing but what Christ has done. And while we may succumb to pride if we look to other people’s shortcomings, we will never be puffed up if we compare ourselves to Jesus. Warren Wiersbe wrote it like this: “A divine dissatisfaction is essential for spiritual progress.”
- So Christ-likeness is what we are striving for, while at the same time recognizing that perfection will not be achieved in this life. Now if perfection in this life is not the goal, what is? It is that word that Dr. Wiersbe used: progress.
THE GOAL OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY: PROGRESS
- The Apostle knew he was not perfect, but here is what he says in vv.13-14: one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- If we want to be mature followers of Christ we must learn to forget the past and use the present to focus on the future. Let’s talk about what that means.
- In the Bible, the concept of “forgetting” usually means one of two things. The first meaning is very familiar to us. To forget something may mean that it is no longer a part of the memory. In that familiar passage in James chapter 1 the same word “forget – ἐπιλανθάνω” is used when James writes in vv.23-24: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. There “forget” means to not remember.
- But there is another meaning of “forget”. Scripturally, to forget something may mean “to no longer be influenced or affected by something.” This is what is meant when, in Jeremiah 31:34, God promises to remember the sins of his people no more. He promises to forget our sins. Here God is not saying that he will delete our sins from his memory, as if he will forget that they ever happened. He’s saying that he will no longer count our sins against us. He will no longer be wrathful towards us on account of our sin because it has been paid for.
- That second meaning is what is in the mind of the Apostle Paul here in Philippians 3. He certainly had not forgotten everything about his past as in not remembering it, because he just got done writing in detail about his past. But his past was no longer the driving force in his pursuits.
- I found Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary of this passage especially helpful this week, so I will quote him again. He writes that “We cannot change the past, but we can change the meaning of the past.” The events of the past are done and over with; and they will not change. How we view those events can change. How effective you are in progressing in your Christian faith is directly correlated with how you view your past.
- Paul remembered his past, learned from his past, and used his past to push him on towards the future. He was straining forward towards Christ-likeness. He was always moving forward. He was never stationary. I often tell young people that age is a high price to pay for maturity; and older folk that maturity has no age limit.
- If you’re young, don’t wait around thinking that there will always be time to mature. Age is too high a price to pay for maturing in the faith. Pursue Christ-likeness now. If you’re older, don’t think you’ve already done all you can do. There is still room for growth whether you are 15 or 50 or beyond. The goal is to always be progressing and never to be satisfied.
- And what I want us to notice next is that we are not called to do this on our own. God has designed a support structure for spiritual growth:
THE SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR CHRISTIAN MATURITY: COMMUNITY
- In v.17 Paul says: Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
- Certainly he has in mind here Timothy and Epaphroditus, two men of faith whom he has already mentioned in chapter 2. But the scope is likely broader than that. He tells them to watch those who follow his example and follow them.
- It is fair to ask “How do I progress in Christ-likeness? What does that look like? I understand that I need to be like Jesus, and that my goal in this life is progress; now what does that mean for me on a daily basis?” And in v.17 Paul gives one very important answer to those questions: you grow in Christ-likeness by learning from others who follow Christ.
- The Philippians had the example of Paul, Timothy, Epaphroditus, and others. We have godly men and women whom God has surrounded us with, so that we can learn from them. So if you want to talk specifics, let’s say for example you want to know how to be Christ-like in your marriage. What do you do? Find a believing couple who has been married for a long time and learn from them. Or if you want to know how to be Christ-like with your family that largely consists of unbelievers, find a believer who has experienced that same difficulty and glean wisdom from them.
- You get the point. Whatever it is, look to a believer who has been through the same situation. And here’s the key: you know you’ve found the right person to imitate and learn from when you ask for their help and they take you to Scripture. Wisdom from experience is helpful, but wisdom from Scripture is invaluable. Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ. And we imitate Christ by obeying his word revealed to us in Scripture.
- I don’t want to oversimplify this, but sometimes we make this more difficult than it really is. I will use a somewhat obvious example to help you get the picture. Imagine you are struggling to pay the mortgage on your house. (For some of us this is not very hard to imagine!) Imagine further that you work in a bank as a teller. Every day you go to work and handle thousands of dollars in cash. It would be very easy for you fudge the numbers on the accounting sheet and take whatever you needed. The word of God says “you shall not steal”. What is the Christ-like thing to do in that situation? Leave the money where it belongs and pay your mortgage honestly – or lose your house rather than blatantly disobey Christ in such a way!
- So the word of God is our guide and God has given us other believers in our lives to help us figure out how to apply that word rightly. You are not alone. You are a part of the body of Christ.
- Oh, but the enemy of our souls will not like such a devotion to Christ-likeness. Satan hates it when people prize Jesus Christ above all else. And so he seeks to hinder our progress by shifting our focus off of Christ and onto the temporal issues of this life.
THE ENEMY OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY: WORLDLINESS
- He encourages the saints to imitate his example and the example of others who follow Christ because of vv.18-19: For many, of whom I have 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 they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
- A primary characteristic of those headed for eternal destruction is a consuming desire for the things of this world. As believers, we should not allow ourselves to get caught up in that mess. Focusing on worldly things distracts us from our ultimate goal and hinders our maturation process. Just like there are godly examples to be followed, there are ungodly examples to be avoided.
- Paul warns the believers about people who are enemies of Jesus. They are enemies because their god is not Christ, but their own bellies. “Belly” here is translated from a word that refers sometimes to the stomach, sometimes the womb, and sometimes inner desires or longings. I think the last meaning is preferable here.
- Some people follow not after God and Christ but after their own sinful desires. Whatever they long to do, they do it. Their impulses control their lives. They live with no restrictions, no accountability, and as Paul also says here, no shame.
- They glory in their shame. They are proud of their wickedness. They shake their fist at God, if they think he exists, and find as much pleasure as they can while they walk this earth. And they are unaware that their end is destruction. They rebel against God now, but will be judged rightly by him in eternity. Not a pretty picture, is it?
- Of course it’s not. That’s why Paul warns us not to be like that. Our goal is to pursue Christ, not what everyone else in this life pursues. There are certain material things we need to make it through this life, but we do not worship them; we do not pursue them as our ultimate goal; and we do disregard God in favor of them.
- Paul told the Colossians in chapter 3 of his letter to them: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.
- So if we are living for the cars we drive; or the houses we live in; or the clothes we wear, we are not progressing in Christian maturity. If we only have time for one thing, and would rather watch our favorite TV program than spend time in the word and in prayer, we are not progressing in Christian maturity. Whatever it is that is important to you, if it is more important than following Jesus and becoming more like him, it is hindering your pursuit of Christ-likeness.
- Watch out! Make sure the luxuries we enjoy by God’s common grace in this world do not take over your desire to follow after Christ. If you were stripped of everything you have, material and immaterial, except one thing, would you hold on to Jesus with all of your might?
- But while there is an enemy we must fight against as we press on towards maturity in the here and now, we know that one day our pursuit will be complete. The outcome of our progress, if we truly know Jesus as Savior and Lord, is secure:
THE OUTCOME OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY: GLORIFICATION
- Vv. 20-21: 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.
- The reason why we pursue the prize of Christian maturity and lay aside, either completely or as secondary, all earthly pursuits is that our true home is in heaven with Christ. And from heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father, he will return to this earth for us. Then every soul who has ever believed in the Savior will receive a perfect glorified body.
- The race will be over, the progress complete. The imperfection which maturity acknowledges now will be no more. Perfection will be a reality. And we will spend eternity praising the God of our salvation for it.
- Our enemy personified, Satan himself will be vanquished. Our enemy within, our sinful nature will be abolished. And our enemy without, the world around us with all of its lusts will be replaced. And it is with this end in mind that I give our last point:
AN EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN MATURITY: STAND FIRM
- V.1 of chapter 4 in your Bible belongs with the thought pattern of chapter 3: Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
- Because our end is secure and our pursuit will be fulfilled, stand firm until then. Do not give up. Do not be overcome by hopelessness. I say to you, along with Spurgeon, never from the mercy seat may your footsteps be driven by despair. May you always press on, always progress; knowing that it is Christ in you who is willing and working for his good pleasure. And at his return, you will be made like him.
