Pressing Towards the Goal
Philippians 3:4-14
We live in a world today in which many people have to motivations other than to get through another day. People seem to have nothing to live for. Drug abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, fear, and a general sense of despair has gripped the American nation. Many people have various worldly desires they wished to pursue. Some want to be professional athletes. Others desire to be an executive in a Fortune 500 company. There are many other goals people would like to attain. Some of these seem to be good goals, others no so good. The problem is that many think the game is rigged against them, that the rich and powerful have held them down while they reserve the good positions for their own children. So, people give up and say: “What’s the use in trying?”
There are a few who persevere against all odds and obtain their dream, at least as far as this life is concerned. There are a few Cinderella stories. But for the many, they become the Walter Mitty’s of this world. One could take this morning’s Scripture and apply it to this life. We can follow Churchill’s advice to “Never give up!” But when one faces death, what boast is it to say “I did it my way.” Queen Elizabeth the First did indeed accomplish much in her life against all odds. She avoided execution in the tower from the hands of her sister Bloody Mary. As a woman in a man’s world, she ascended to the throne. Under her rule, England became a great power. Under her leadership, the Armada was defeated. she became world famous and exceedingly rich. Yet when death knocked at her door, she is alleged to say she would give it all up for another day of life. All of this glory to end with such personal despair!
I am not against setting personal goals, as the Lord wills. Perhaps you might desire to get great gain (James 4:13-15). But note that James say “if the Lord wills.” James also castigates the values and oppression of the rich over the poor. But the poor also err when they are jealous of them and do not consider that at their end, they will lose everything. The poor thinks that he would be happy if only he was that rich man. But the rich are not happy either. You can find them in the drug and alcohol rehabs. They commit suicide also. They are often the most angry people on earth and project their self-hatred on others.
Now let us look at the Apostle Paul. He had gained a great reputation as a Pharisee. He was well-respected. He was well educated. He was positioned to become great in the Jewish world of his day. He was highly motivated to succeed as well. He boasts that as a Pharisee he excelled his peers. But Saul of Tarsus was not a happy man He raged against the early Christians. He had them arrested, jailed, beaten, and even killed. This is in spite of the dignity he had observed in the death of Stephen of which he was a witness. Stephen had something which Saul did not yet have, something worth dying for.
This all changed when Jesus confronted Paul on the Damascus Road. His life was forever changed by God’s grace. His original goal was to be a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He did not realize that the end of his life would have been hellfire. He had murdered people in his zeal. Now he would bring the words of life to the Gentiles. He had belonged to a group which means by definition “separated ones.” As a good Pharisee, he certainly would have separated himself from Gentile contacts. But now, God had separated him unto the gospel to all, especially the Gentiles. (Romans 1:1).
When we come to the Epistle to the Philippians, we find Paul in a Roman prison, being kept by the Praetorian Guard, which indicates that he was probably in Rome. The threat of execution loomed large. It was not certain that Paul would ever again be released. In other words, he was at the end of the road. He had suffered much over his years of ministry. He recounts the beatings, imprisonments, stoning, shipwrecks, and other indignities he had suffered. He also had seen much fruit as well. God used him to found many new churches in Asia Minor, the region of Galatia, Macedon, Greece, and other places. The city of Philippi was one of these church plants. It did not seem to be a likely place to found a church. There were not even ten Jewish men in the city to found a synagogue. He finally found some women, including Lydia, praying and worshiping the LORD at a riverbank. Then after Lydia and her house believed and were baptized, Paul ran afoul of men who were merchandising a slave girl who was possessed of a python spirit, who probably made her “prophesies” at the nearby Temple of Delphi. He and Silas ended up being beaten with rods by the lictors and thrown into prison, from which God released them by means of an earthquake. The jailor and his household believed and were baptized. A new church had been founded.
Paul later tells the Corinthians that the Philippians gave to the offering being raised for the saints in Jerusalem out of their poverty, which indicates the character of the members. They were good soldiers for Jesus Christ who were armed with the idea that armies at war had to suffer things that the general populace they protected did not, including being killed or wounded in battle. As the city contained many retired legionaries who understood the rigors and discipline of combat, they understood the rigors of Christian discipleship and its potential dangers. They also had an example in Paul in his suffering.
In addition to these burdens, Paul had to deal with issues arising within the churches. Some consider this to have been the “thorn in the flesh” he mentions in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. The Philippian church had issues which Paul had to deal with. Two women in leadership had disagreements with each other, and Paul had to admonish them to say the same thing. There was some who were preaching Christ out of contention. There were some who were boastful. It also appears that the Jews, whether believers or not I do not know, had troubled even this church in a city which had few Jews. Yet for all the troubles Paul was suffering for, the tone of the epistle is quite joyful. Few would find little reason to rejoice under these circumstances. The reason Paul could rejoice and admonish the Philippians to do likewise was that he knew where he was going. He was pressing toward this prize. He realized that no human deprivation could deprive him of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. One sees this same joy in Romans 8:35-39:
Romans 8:35–39 NKJV
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The certainty of the realization of this goal was not based on Paul’s self-achievements, It was not based upon all the labor which he labored in the gospel. Even at this point, Paul says here that he had not fully attained. He did not even boast of his choosing Christ, but that Christ had chosen him. It was entirely by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. But it is this very realization which makes our salvation sure. This is not to take away from free choice, but rather it correctly emphasizes the choice God had made. One cannot choose if no choice is offered. Instead of seeing free grace as something we are free to accept or reject, we must emphasize that God was, is, and ever shall be the one who is free to offer grace to some, to all, or even to none. He is sovereign and under no compulsion. This makes the fact that God has chosen such abject sinners to be saved and conformed to the image of His Son all the more remarkable. We should always reflect upon this amazing grace and not in our own accomplishments, even those wrought for Christ.
As Paul is awaiting the possibility or even probability of execution in the near future, he engages in reflection. As we can see, he has reflected on where he had come from and what the Lord had made him. He realized that all his former attainments, as lustrous as they had been in the eyes of man were actually garbage, the foulest garbage. The past was to be forgotten. Instead, the Christian is to look forward to the prize which the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. As Colossians 3 reminds us, the Christian life is oriented upward where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It is also oriented toward His return and the coming fullness of the Kingdom. (Colossians 3:2-4) This is what should motivate our conduct. We press onward through our troubles. This is why we shall persevere. So if we find ourselves wavering, we need to forget our past failures or even achievement and to keep our eyes continually on the prize, realizing we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us,
As I said before, having earthly goals are not all bad. some can be quite virtuous. But we need to understand this within the context that we have been called to a higher and eternal purpose. when Paul had to employ himself as a tentmaker with Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, it was for the sake of the gospel. The Latin word for calling is “vocare” from which we get “vocation.” Even “secular” work is sacred and should serve to advance the Gospel of Christ and not personal gain. God uses all sorts of people from all works of life to witness in the workplace and the marketplace. Some people whom God uses are educated people like Paul. Some were wealthy like Erastus the Corinthian who held high office in Corinth and allowed Christians to meet at his estate. Some were fishermen of rudimentary education. Even though God uses people from all walks of life, the goal is the same — that we might achieve to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. To this goal we must all press onward together, sharing God’s gifts, spiritual and secular to build up His body, the church. In some cases, Christians have even had to lay down their own lives for the brethren. But whether we live, or whether we die, we are the LORD’s (Romans 14:8), The faith that is worth dying for is the faith that is worth living for. As Bonhoeffer noted, the Christian invitation to discipleship is “come and die” rather than “come and dine.” Actually it is both, each at its proper time.
So let us encourage each other in the faith, seeing we have such a great and eternal promise.
