Reaching for the Prize #1

 

"Reaching for the Prize"
Philippians 3:12-16
 
I think it is obvious to any student of the letters of the Apostle Paul that he must have loved athletics. Very often he uses athletic analogies, or athletic metaphors to illustrate spiritual truth. One of his athletic analogies is that of a runner, running a race. The runner to him is the picture of the Christian; the race is the Christian life. That is essentially the picture that we find in Philippians 3:12-16.
 
Now obviously the heart of this passage is the very familiar fourteenth verse, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." The theme here then is pursuing the prize. The analogy is that of a runner who is running to win in order that he might gain the prize.
 
The spiritual point here is the matter of pursuing the spiritual prize. If you will, Paul is talking about Christian effort toward growth. Now he has just given his personal testimony of the experience of his own conversion from his viewpoint from verses 4 to 11.
 
You'll remember that he has lived as a Jew and he recites his credentials in verses 5 and 6, circumcised the eighth day of the nation Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is the law found blameless. And as he lived as a God-fearing law-abiding Jew he had learned to put his trust in those achievements for his salvation.
So he had this profit column in which he assumed that all of these things made him right with God. Then on the Damascus Road he was confronted with the living Christ. And he saw that all of those works and all of those achievements not only did not make him right with God, they hindered him from being right with God.
 
And that he would have to abandon them all and receive Christ. And so, in effect, in verses 4 through 11 he says, "When I saw the value of Christ and when I saw that salvation was only in Christ, I took everything that once was gained and counted it loss and I abandoned it all for Christ."
 
And so we get a little peek into the mindset and attitude of Paul when he became a Christian. He had to discount everything that was important to him and his faith and trust Christ alone. 
 
Then in verses 8 through 11 he tells us what he gained in Christ. Verses 4 through 7, what was loss, verses 8 through 11 what was gained. And what did he gain in Christ?
 
There are five things. He gained the knowledge of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the power of Christ, the fellowship of Christ and the glory of Christ. Frankly, quite an amazing list of spiritual benedictions.
 
Now, having heard Paul say might lead someone to assume that the beginning for him was also the end; that he had “arrived”. After all the Judaizers of the day claimed perfection. Maybe Paul had it.
 
 
To head off that kind of thinking, in verse 12, he quickly launches into a passage which is a total disclaimer of any spiritual perfection. That's his intent in this passage. He wants us to know that he is not perfect. He has not reached moral perfection, he has not reached spiritual perfection even though he is a new creation, even though he has a new heart and a new disposition which desires strongly holy things, even though he had union with Jesus Christ and a new mind, the mind of Christ, even though he has new standing before God and is accepted by God and entitled to heaven and has the righteousness of Christ covering him, even though he has the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the power of God, even though he has promised future glory and indwelling glory in that Spirit, he has not arrived...he is not perfect.
 
He is still temptable. He is still the possessor of his unredeemed flesh. He is still a sinner. And there is still a process that has begun and must take place and finish if we will ever be completely like Christ. 
 
There must be growth. There must be the pursuit of the goal. There must be the running of the race. That's his point. The pressing toward the mark.
 
So the basic thrust of this passage is a call to pursue the prize. It's a call to pursue the goal, the prize which is spiritual perfection. We are to give our whole life to this, that's what he's saying in verse 14. "I press toward that." The word "press" meaning I pursue, I chase it, I run after it.
 
And over the course of these Sunday nights in January I want us to develop that idea. 
 
What is involved in reaching for the prize? What is involved in becoming Christ-like? 
 
Well, in this passage we are given six principles for pursuing the prize and I want to share them with you tonight. Then in verses 17-21 there are three practical helps for pursuing the prize that we will look at one at a time. 
 
Tonight, six necessary elements if we are to effectively pursue the prize.
 
1. An Awareness of the Need to Pursue Christ-likeness
 
You are not what you should be, you are not what you can be, you are not what you will be some day when you see the Lord. So there must be right off the bat an awareness of the need to pursue a better condition.
 
It’s not to hard to understand why Paul begins as he does. 
 
Please note verse 12. "
 
It all starts with a dissatisfaction. And that's where he starts, an awareness that he hasn't arrived. He starts off by saying, “I’m not perfect, therefore, I’m pursuing the prize.

You see perfectionists don't do this. Anybody who thinks they've reached spiritual perfection has no awareness of pursuing a better condition. You know what the people in perfectionism do?
 
They get to the point where they think they've arrived at the level of spiritual perfection therefore there's nothing left to pursue. They don’t have to go to bible study; they know it all. They’ve arrived. They don’t need church, that’s for beginners. Sunday School is for children. Discipleship Training? I’ve got better things to do with my time.
 
So they become content with their condition, and worse than that, they spend the rest of their life instead of pursuing a better condition, defending themselves as perfect to people who aren't convinced.
 
And yet here is Paul the Apostle, 30 years after his conversion saying I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I need to be. I haven't arrived. I'm not spiritually perfect. I'm not morally perfect. I haven't reached Christ's likeness. I have not reached God's perfect standard. I am still in process.
 
So spiritual growth starts with a recognition that you're not where you ought to be. It's a runner at the beginning of the race saying the whole idea is to get to the end of this thing. I'm not there so I must run this course.
 
So we begin with an awareness of the need to pursue a better condition, then secondly, if you're going to pursue the prize effectively
 
2. You must Give Maximum Effort to Pursue Christ-likeness.
 
Look at verse 12 again, so he says, "I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."
I press on, I run, I follow after, I pursue, I chase. It's used of a sprinter and the word means aggressive energetic endeavor. He says I'm running after this thing with all my might.
 
There's no lasse fare attitude hear, Que sari, sari. This is not Sunday morning every so often kind of discipleship. This is the straining of every spiritual muscle, this is running to win. This is pursuing the prize with all your might. This is fighting the good fight. This is laying aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us and looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who is the one before us. Paul's saying I run, I pursue, I chase, because I haven't arrived, maximum effort.
 
And that's what it takes. It takes maximum effort using the means of grace provided to you by God to pursue spiritual perfection. You say, "Well, what's pursuing? 
 
Well look at verse 12
 
"I am pursuing in order that I may lay hold of..." He's after a prize, he's after something specific. He wants to get a hold of something. The verb means to seize or grasp. I'm after something. "What are you running after, Paul?"
 
Well here it is, "I'm after that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." Now that is a fascinating statement. You see what he's saying? He's saying I'm pursuing the prize so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. "What do you mean by that, Paul?"
 
He says I'm pursuing the very thing that was the reason Christ pursued me. Did you get that? In other words, my goal in life is consistent with Christ's goal for my salvation. He saved me for a purpose. And the purpose He had in saving me has become my purpose in my spiritual progress.
 
Why did Christ pursue you? Why did Christ save you? We need to know that because the reason Christ redeemed you is the goal of your life. My will is now His will, I want for me what He wanted for me and saved me to accomplish.
 
You say, "What was it? What is it?"
 
Look at Romans 8, Romans chapter 8 verse 28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose," talking about Christians. Now, follow this, "For whom He foreknew, or chose, that's all believers, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of...whom?...His Son."
 
Now why were you saved? Why did God choose you and then save you? In order to make you like what? His Son. What's the goal of your Christian life then? It's the same thing for which you were saved, He saved you to make you like His Son and that purpose for which He saves you becomes the purpose for which you live.
 
That's what we're all about. We're all in a life-long pursuit of Christ's likeness. And you may think that you have arrived at some point of spiritual perfection, but I think if you put yourself against Christ you're going to be a little more realistic. Christ's likeness is the goal. Christ's likeness is the issue here. And it is that for which we were redeemed that we might be made like His Son. That's the point.
 
Now in that context, think about this: Is that not worth maximum effort? I mean if Jesus was willing to die to make it happen, shouldn’t we give everything we’ve got on our end of the deal? That’s why I am constantly amazed at those who treat their spiritual life so casually. 
 
Paul says, "Look, I make a maximum effort, I am pursuing with all my might that very thing for which Christ pursued me."
 
What is necessary then in pursuing the prize? Number one, is the awareness of the need for Christlikeness. 
 
Number two: it requires maximum effort.
 
3. If I will be like Christ, I must have a focused concentration.
 
Any athlete knows that when you're running in a race you have to fix your eyes on something ahead of you. You cannot watch your feet or you'll fall on your face. You cannot watch the people around you or you will trip or somebody will pass you on the other side. Your focus is straight forward on the goal that is ahead. And that is precisely what he is saying here. In making maximum effort there's a concentration point beyond you upon which you focus.
 
Notice verse 13
 
Here is the key: one thing I do. The man was so focused. The man had an unbelievable level of concentration.
 
It is those totally focused people who succeed in athletics. It is those totally focused people who succeed in life. The world is full of people who “also ran”. But they are unsuccessful because they lack focus and direction.
 
That's why James warned about a double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways and he's blown all over the place. Here was a man with a focused concentration. And the focus of his life was one thing. What was it? It was pursuing the prize, verse 14, "This one thing, I press on toward the goal for the prize." That's the one thing in my life. That's what makes a great man.
 
When your life has one driving compulsion and that is to be like Christ, you're moving in the right direction.
 
Now this focused concentration is the result of a negative and a positive.
 
Notice the negative in verse 13, in order to will that one thing Paul says, "Forgetting what lies behind," that's the negative. And then he says, "And reaching forward to what lies ahead," that's the positive.
 
So then, if I will focus on the prize, I’ve got to eliminate the past.
 
 
Don't look back. We've all watched a runner look back over one's shoulder and get passed on the other side. Don't look back. It is irrelevant. Nothing happening back there is relevant.
 
Don't look back. Make a break with the past.
 
Now what does he mean by the past? He means the past. Then he says forgetting those things that are behind. What things?
 
Everything.
 
Now follow this: Good things and bad things, achievements, virtuous deeds, great accomplishments, spiritual ministries, as well as bad things...sins, iniquities, failures, disasters. All of it. You say, "Forget it all?" That's right. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the future.
 
It has nothing to do with what you're doing right now. You cannot live on past victories. You cannot celebrate your value by your past. You should never be debilitated by your past sins, iniquities and burdens of guilt. And yet most people are so much distracted by the past that they never get around to running the future.
 
Can you imagine getting ready to run, and some old boy says, “I used to race, and I ran face and I beat so and so. . .I ran..." Who cares, man? Get in the blocks. This is another race. We're really not interested in that. It doesn't matter because if you don't look good today, you're not going to win, that's all. Forget that stuff.
 
And they don't want to hear some guy get in the blocks and say, "Oh, you know, I have so many sins in my past and oh, last night I late a hot fudge sundae, I know it will weigh me down, I'll never be able to run this race. I will never be able to succeed. I know I'm not going to win.
 
And then I got the worst lane in the draw and this is not going to work out." I mean, shut up and run the race. Nobody's interested in all of that stuff out of your past. Nobody's interested, I'll tell you right now, nobody's interested in what you did in the past, nobody's interested in what I did in the past.
 
What God is interested in is what are we going to do now and where we going in the future? Churches are full of people who are holding all kinds of grudges, bitternesses, perspectives and junk from the past and they're paralyzed by it. Disappointments and temptations of the past must not depress you. Put your hand to the plow, don't look back and move, pursue the prize.
 
Forget it all.
 
And then, on the poisitive side, verse 13, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. Let's go, let's move. The word here, "reaching forward," means to stretch a muscle to its limit. This is a runner stretching every muscle to reach what is in front of him, the prize. Focused concentration, nothing with the past, just looking at the goal, moving as fast as possible.
 
Now ask yourself a question...do you have that kind of focused concentration? What are you focused on?
Even as a minister of Jesus Christ, my goal in life must not be to build a big church, my goal in life is not to succeed in the church, my goal in life is not to develop programs, my goal is not to keep everybody happy and not offend anyone. My focused goal in life must be to be like Jesus Christ and in the pursuit of being like Jesus Christ, out of that's going to flow an impactful life.
 
That's the pursuit.
 
So what does it take to effectively pursue the prize and grow spiritually? One, recognition of the need for Christlikeness. Two, maximum effort in pursuing it.  Three, focused concentration on the one goal. 
 
Then
 
4. A Spiritual Motivation for Christ-likeness.
 
Now Paul is very repetitious in this passage. Notice verse 14, the heart of the passage, "I press or I pursue," continuous effort, I continually pursue toward. I bear down on the goal."
 
I continuously bear down on the goal. What's the goal? What did we say it was? To be what? Like Christ. The same thing He saved you for is what you pursue. So you bear down on that goal with that focused concentration, that maximum effort.
 
Why do you do that? Why do you bear down on that? I'll tell you why. Look at it, verse 14, here's the motive, "For the prize..." You say, "Well, isn't that a little selfish?" No. You do it for the prize...you want to win the prize. Run to win.
 
So you bear down on the goal for the sake of the prize which is to be like Christ. The goal is the prize, the prize is the goal. So Paul says, "Look, the goal of my life is to be like Christ and that's also the reward of my race."
 
Will we reach that goal in this life?" No but it's still the goal, and someday I will be like Christ. That's the prize that God gives to the one who runs the race. The goal is to be like Christ, perfection in Christ. The prize is to be like Christ, perfection in Christ. Someday we'll be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, 1 John 3 says.
 
What motivates me? What motivates you? The upward call. We have to live in the light of the Rapture. We have to live in the light of being called out of this world in to presence of God and at that particular point we will be given glory, we will be given an eternal reward, we will be made like Christ.
 
And if God is so gracious to be willing to give us that prize, how committed should we be to run the race? I mean, look at it, folks, wretched, wicked, vile, godless sinners on our way to hell. God in sovereign grace picks us out, chooses us for salvation in order that He might eternally make us like His own Son. What grace! That is the prize. I don't know about you but that motivates me to run toward the goal.
 
So, pursuing the prize means realizing your need, means making a maximum effort, it means focused concentration and it means being motivated by the greatness of the prize itself.
 
 
5. In pursuing the prize we have divine resources to develop Christ-likeness
 
Notice verse 15
 
This verse gets overlooked a lot, but it's very important.  
 
Let us therefore as many as are perfect. What's that mean? I thought you just said we couldn't be perfect. He's not talking now about practical perfection, he's doing a little play on words and he's saying, "As many of us as are positionally perfect, that is we have been made perfect in Christ positionally, not practically yet." Some day our position will match our practice when we're glorified. But as many of us as are perfect in the positional sense should have this attitude. What attitude? The attitude of pursuing the prize.
 
You say, "Why would Paul throw that word perfect in there? That just confuses the clarity of the text." I'll tell you why. I think it's sarcastic.
 
He has these Judaizers claiming they’re perfect, and so in a sarcastic ironic way he says, "If you were really positionally perfect, you would not your not practically perfect because those of us who are now we’re not.”
 
What does that mean? If you're a true Christian, your desire would be to pursue the prize, that you'd see your own need, that you'd make maximum effort, that you'd have focused concentration, that you be motivated by the great prize and that you would pursue with all your might that prize.
By the way, that phrase "have this attitude" literally in the Greek means to think this way, or be intent on this, or set one's mind on this. On what? Pursuing the prize.
 
But, Paul's not stupid. So look what else he says. "But if in anything you have a different attitude." Do you think that's a remote possibility? Sure. The church is full of people who aren't interested in pursuing the prize. They're interested in looking at the past. They're content with where they are. And so they want to spend the rest of their life justifying the level of their attainment and convincing everybody around them that they're really very spiritual.
 
Paul says, "Look, if any of this stuff you have a different attitude, you don't see the importance of pursuing in this way, or you believe you've already arrived wherever you would like to be you've settled there, and if you think anything other than what I've said about pursuing the prize, and you won't listen to me, ten God will reveal that also to you."
 
He simply says I have to leave you to God. If you're ever going to get the message and you won't get it from me, then you'll have to get it from God.
 
And generally that has to happen how? If we can’t learn the easy way, we have to learn the hard way. So the lessons come through discipline. 
 
So, Paul says, "Look, you'll have to recognize that in this pursuing the prize you're dependent on divine resources."
 
For all of us, there will be those times when we won't have this attitude and the Lord will have to discipline us to move us along. So that's what he says. Paul, I know this for me, and I know this for you, that there are times when we have a different attitude and only God can move us. And so he's saying I want God to do that, I want God to bring into your life whatever it takes to move you on the path of pursuing the prize.
 
So what does it take? It takes recognition of need, effort, concentration, motivation, and divine help for those times when we fail to have that right attitude.
 
And lastly, there is one more element in pursuing the prize, let's call it
 
6. Consistency in Pursuing Christ-likeness
 
It doesn't happen by intermittent effort, it demands a consistency.
 
verse 16
 
"However," that really means nevertheless, or better, one more thing. It's often used at the end of a paragraph to express a final thought. "One more thing, by the way, let us keep living by that same to which we have attained."
 
In other words, look, keep moving along the path that has brought you to where you are in your spiritual progress. That's the idea. You'll be interested to know that the verb here is translated "keep living." It actually means to follow in line, to line up.
 
So what he is saying is, Fall in step. It's used of armies marching in battle order. Be consistent. Keep moving. Wherever you are spiritually by the same principles that got you there, keep moving ahead.
 
If we were talking about the runner metaphor, we would say you've run this far in your lane with great effort, it's gotten you so far, keep that same effort up in that same lane until you hit the finish. Pursuing the prize.
 
"Why do you do it, Paul?" To gain the prize. "How hard do you do it?" With maximum effort. "How focused are you, Paul?" I concentrate on nothing else. "How dependent on God are you?" When I fail I trust that He will reveal to me my failure and move me out. "What's the secret, Paul?" Consistency.
 
Ask yourself the question, are you pursuing the prize? Are you growing? Or are you standing in one spot looking backwards and spending most of your time defending yourself? Or are you willing to say I'm not what I ought to be but I'm moving?
 
A lot of people have died climbing the Alps, falling off of precipices. At the foot of one of the many mountains that has been attempted a number of times is a little grave, it's the grave of a man who tried to climb to the pinnacle and fell off a precipice to his death. The tombstone there is very simple. It gives his name and then it says, "He died climbing." That really should be the epitaph of the tomb of every Christian, "He died climbing."
 
Let's pray together.
 
Would you in your heart just pray silently before the Lord and perhaps refresh your commitment to pursue the prize, to climb, to run the race? If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior, at this very moment would you say I want to start the race? Would you receive Jesus Christ into your life? If He's already there but you've obviously reached a point of spiritual satisfaction, you think you know enough, you've heard enough, you've done enough and now it's just about time for you to stop the process of pursuit, would you ask God to forgive you and to move you along toward the prize?