If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:4b-14 (NRSVA)
Paul the apostle considered himself in a race. This was not your average Annual Church picnic three-legged race at the park. Paul’s race was the life he was living. Particularly, it was the life he was living for Christ.
Paul did what you’re supposed to do when you are about to run the most important race of your life – he considered all his resources, all the requirements and all the rewards.
Preparing for a race is a hard thing. Lance Armstrong cycles many hours a week to fine-tune his body for competition. Pit crews practice the minutest details of their operation to give guys like Earnhardt, Wallace and others an edge in the race. Racehorses are treated like crown princes. Preparing well for the big-time is hard work!
Paul prepared hard for life. He took the blue-blooded pedigree to which he was born and added years of study, social-climbing and exhausting work, fueled by an insatiable desire to be the best. Then, one day Paul bumped into reality; he was racing the wrong way!
It was the day Paul met Jesus. Suddenly all the hard work, family pedigree and enthusiasm seemed so much a wrong fit for this life’s race. This hard-driving, church-persecuting Pharisee who had been born “Saul” became a person that didn’t fit anywhere he looked. The old life was definitely out, but how could he join-in with the church, these Christians he had been persecuting. And yet, he knew instinctively that there was still a race to run. He just wondered what to do about living.
God showed Paul that his life’s direction was going to change abruptly. There was still a race; it was just time for Paul to suit-up for a different team; the church he had persecuted for years was now to be his family and his passion. Talk about having your whole life turned upside-down!
Yet Saul accepted the new name God gave him, Paul – and he accepted the task God gave him – with enthusiasm and readiness that later would allow him to suffer great hardships in the name of Christ. Paul became one of the greatest tools in the hand of God the world has ever seen.
This passage reveals the character and attitude of Paul in at least two ways that, if we will follow his example, will allow us to be the kind of people who run the race well.
I. Paul Woke Up Every Morning Knowing That He had to Serve Like it was His Last Day and That He had to Train Like He Would be Serving for a Hundred More Years
When I was a very young Christian I used to despair over trying to memorize verses and serve Christ. I was under the influence of some folks who were as certain as could be that the Lord would return at just any moment. A dear brother straightened me out with Paul’s thinking. The Lord may not come back for a thousand years…so if you serve him faithfully for your whole life you will do well. But if He does come back next week He ought to find you working, Russell.
Remember the day-laborers in the parable of the vineyard. The ones who worked just an hour in the field got just as much as the ones who had worked all day. What isn’t said is what kind of reward there was for those who were supposed to be working and just sat under the tree for the day.
Training to be a Christian soldier is not easy, but it is available. Gordon MacDonald tells about his concept of training:
When I first ran track in prep school, my coach invited me to his home for dinner one night. After the meal, he pulled out a notebook displaying my name on the front cover. He immediately turned to the back page, which bore the heading "June 1957"-three and a half years away.
"Gordon," he said. "These are the races I’m going to schedule you to run almost four years from now. Here are the times you will achieve."
I looked at those times. Impossible! They were light years away from where I was at that moment as a runner.
Then Coach began turning back the pages of that book, page by page, showing the 42 months he had scheduled for workouts. These were the graduated, accelerated plans for my increasing skill on the track as the months and years would go by. He had a sense of direction and development when it came to my athletic growth.
Coaches and leaders of all kinds understand the absolute necessity of strategic, long-range planning. Similarly, a wise and all-knowing God has a plan for our total lives-gradually, inevitably, down through the years, we become more like Jesus. [1]
There are many opportunities for each of us to train to be better servants of our Lord. It is an important race, this journey of life. Training is necessary to run it well.
A second necessary aspect of running this race of the Christian life is priority, an attitude!
II. Paul Woke Up Every Morning Knowing That Everything in His Life Came in a Distant Second to His Relationship with the Lord
Paul did the ultimate “profit and loss” spreadsheet and came up certain that nothing surpassed knowing Christ as Savior, Lord, coming King and friend.
To “know” Christ means to have the most intimate of relationships possible. Biblically, “knowing” is generally understood in the sense of marital intimacy, as in Adam “knew” Eve, the physical union which produced a child. But this “knowing” far surpasses that intimacy; it is the meshing of souls, the divine with mortal. Something happens when that happens.
Writing in Moody Monthly magazine, Mayo Mathers tells about the first time she saw Keith sitting alone in a pew at the back of the church. He wore a biker’s T-shirt and tattoos decorated each arm.
Only 36, he was more faded than his jeans with a worn out, lived-out look in his eyes. He seemed puzzled, as if he wasn’t sure how he ended up in that tiny country church. He was there because someone had invited him. Someone wanted to introduce Keith to Jesus Christ. Someone yearned for him to come to know Christ in a life changing way.
Keith certainly needed the Lord. From the first time of his marriage at age 15, his life had gone steadily and tragically downhill.
He had tried most of what the world had to offer but nothing brought him the happiness, and meaning and peace he craved. Keith was a drug user; an ex-con and he constantly battled alcoholism.
Keith returned to church the next week… and the next… and the next. People lovingly reached out to him, accepted him, and prayed for him. Eventually Keith accepted Christ as personal Savior and Lord. He began his new life in Christ with an astonishing passion, yearning to know Christ better and better.
Keith devoured his Bible; fellowship became a priority. He faithfully prayed and worshiped. And he grew and grew in Jesus. Oh, he had his difficulties, failures, and setbacks; it was not all-smooth sailing; he lost some battles along the way. But, my, did his life ever change.
Keith lived in a tiny camping trailer parked at the back off his parents’ property. His main passion was his motorcycle. It was his life, his passion; it was all he really had. When challenged to give something to God, he sold his motorcycle and gave the money to the Lord. Needless to say, Keith’s hunger to know Christ and His transforming power had an impact on those around him, both in and out of the church.
[Touched by his life, the author of that Moody Monthly article wrote:] “After Keith gave his motorcycle to the Lord, I realized that I had forgotten the feeling of such dedication…passion… and hunger for Christ. I stared at Keith, fascinated by his life. He looked like a new man; now I was the one who looked faded.”
Sad to say, sometimes our passion and devotion to Christ does fade. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. We all can be renewed in Christ and find a profit in life that we never knew existed. [2]
The table is part of that renewal. Each time we partake of this meal there is a freshness of the sacrifice that reminds you and me of the surpassing greatness that came into our lives when we accepted Christ.
Paul lived every day as if he were standing at the table, ready to serve as if it were the last time, ready to be instructed as if he was going to be around for a hundred years – and all the while knowing that his relationship with Christ would keep him pressing on in the most important journey anyone can take.
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ENDNOTES
1. Gordon MacDonald, from a message delivered at the Promise Keepers’ "Go the Distance" Conference (8-11-00); submitted by Kevin Miller, Wheaton, Illinois
2. Steve Shepherd on SermonCental.com in a sermon "Profit and Loss"
