I Press On!
Php 3:7-21
(7) But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
(8) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
(9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--
(10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
(11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
(12) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
(13) Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
(14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
(15) Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
(16) Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
(17) Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
(18) For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
(19) Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
(20) But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
(21) 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.
EOLS: The Christ-life is a continuing journey toward the goal; we must pursue with a plan and purpose.
Several years ago I met a fellow who was a rather successful employment recruiter. He was telling me the inside track of his work as I considered the possibility of joining his business. His specialty was the recruitment and placement of engineers in industry.
As he talked about his work, he described how success would tend to come in bursts. One thing that he said has stayed with me to this day: The busiest day of the year, the day he would plan for all year long, the one day when he would have potential to make more money than he would normally make in a month- was the second day of January. A lot of people make the declaration that at the dawn of the New Year, things are going to change!
There’s something about those markers in life. Most of us tend to live our lives by the seasons. We’ll persevere through a situation that we would like to change, knowing that as of some target date we will take action. How many times have I said “right after Christmas I will…” How many times have we all said “on January 1, things are going to change.” I tend to set goals with a future start date, often based on the calendar and what’s going on around me and in my family.
Well, this Sunday we’re on the other side of the Holidays. We’re back to work, school, and the routine of daily life. I’m already thinking ahead to what things should be like at the end of 2011. Will I see the change that God has shown me that I need to happen in my life? A year can make quite a difference.
Last night, Angie and I stood beside the casket of a forty-five year old man, a fellow pastor and minister and we talked with his wife and daughters. Here in our church, we’ve prayed for this man and his family for months. Not long ago, Rick C. was healthy and whole, a guy who seized every moment and embraced life to the fullest. In March of last year Rick’s onset of severe back pain was diagnosed as multiple myeloma, a terminal cancer.
As we talked with his wife, I noticed an open Bible in his casket. I leaned forward and commented that I would like to see Rick’s favorite scripture.
D. explained that the Lord had given her the book of Philippians as place in the Word for her family to go and dwell for a time. Rick and their girls had taken the challenge and Philippians remains a sort of home-base in the Scriptures for them for the next year. The Bible was turned to Philippians Chapter 3, and through her tears, D.C told us how this particular passage had brought such comfort and healing during the darkest hours of the night.
You’ll notice in the bulletin there’s a completely different sermon title. As I left that funeral home, I meditated on Philippians 3 and I began to recite portions of it from memory. When I came home God continued to speak to me about it, and I knew that He was calling me to this passage for all of us to dwell in today.
It’s a familiar passage to many of us, and the truth in it is timeless. It will sustain us, motivate us and grow us in the image of Christ. I’d love to share just a few brief thoughts with you.
First, to properly understand what the Apostle is saying here, we need to consider the circumstances under which he wrote. He’s in a prison in Rome. He is chained to a Roman guard 24x7, and he is considered the number one enemy of the state. He is in dire circumstances, and in a very real sense looking at the end of his own life. As it played out he would die within a couple of years by decapitation on the Emperor Nero’s chopping block.
If I found myself in the middle of these dire and unjust circumstances with a pen and paper in my hand, what would I write? Would I write a manifesto on injustice? I might be tempted to write a scathing treatise against the Roman government and pronounce every curse on my captors that I could conceive.
Paul wrote a letter to his children, the people of Philippi who were so near and dear to his heart. He had lived there for a time as he planted a church among them. When he took his paper and pen in prison, his main concern was their success as they continued in their lives in Christ. The Holy Spirit began to flow through him and Paul penned a letter that empowers the Church this day; words that are not just true but timeless!
Know Him
The Power: Glory in The Resurrection
The Suffering: Identifying with His Pain
The two go together-the “light afflictions that work in us a great eternal glory.” Each informs the other
How well do we “know Him?” Is it possible to get to know him in a new and better way?
Most people walk their dogs on leashes. Or rather, the dogs "walk" the people by dragging them along behind! But when a dog and his master have a close, tight relationship, that master doesn’t even need a leash to keep the dog close. The relationship keeps the dog close by his side. He doesn’t have to pull or tug the dog because the dog doesn’t want to escape and doesn’t want distance to come between him and his master. He wants to be close.
Press On
Looking Unto Jesus (The upward call, the Goal)
It’s a moving target, or goal but in the most positive sense. It’s not a variableness or a target dancing or swinging back and forth.
It is an “upward call.” It is a call to rise above, eyes on Him.
It’s upward and onward! Jesus is calling us to eternal glory. Very soon we will see Him face to face.
As we live in this world, He calls us continually higher; to rise above sin and circumstances , chaos and pain.
When we are foolish, we want to conquer the world; when we are wise, we want to conquer self. Our life is measured not by what we win; our life is measured by the thing we strive for. - G. H. Morris
When Visibility is zero, listen and obey, when the radio is silenced, use what you can see to follow. The white line on the right is sometimes all you can see in a blinding rainstorm.
Flying on instruments alone in zero visibility…training “under the hood” Trusting your instruments, knowing that your course has been charted.
In 1952, Florence Chadwick was the first woman to attempt to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. She was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. After about 15 hours, a heavy fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. She swam for one more hour before asking to be pulled out. As she sat in the boat, Florence found out she had stopped swimming just one mile away from the California shoreline.
She explained that she quit because she could no longer see the coastline-there was too much fog. She couldn’t see her goal.
Two months later, Florence got back in the water to try her task once more. This time was different. She swam from Catalina Island to the shore of California in a straight path for 26 miles. The same thick fog set in, but Florence made it because she said that while she swam, she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind.
Heb 12:2
(2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Dear friends, I call you to a challenge. Over the next couple of weeks I want you to join me in thinking deeply about how we want to see our lives one year from today. What change is God calling me to personally, for my family, for my business, for my most private, inner life? I want you to see it, feel it, and long for it.
Then, I want you to pray and meditate upon how you should pursue it. Right now, while the way is clear, think of the time you will find yourself in zero visibility. What will sustain you? What call will you hear to let you know where the goal is, to let you know where you are?
Hold True
Stay on path-rabbit trails are nothing but distraction! Side skirmishes lose wars.
Remember past victory and savor it!
Forget past defeat and sin-every day is a new day
Dr. Wilber Penfield, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, said in a report to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC: "Your brain contains a permanent record of your past that is like a single, continuous strip of moving film…The film library records your whole waking life from childhood on. You can relive those scenes from your past, one at a time…[feeling] exactly the same emotions you did during the original experience."
Walk Together
Imitate Me (I Will Lead); it’s a daunting challenge yet in Christ, and only in Him it will be so.
Someone is following you (Look around); there is no joy quite like bringing someone else into Christ; building and encouraging them. Every moment of life is granted us for one purpose: becoming like our dear Lord. That ultimate, all-embracing end is reached through a multitude of nearer and intermediate ones. - Alexander MacLaren
