"Reaching For the Prize #2"
Philippians 3:17
We are considering the theme of Reaching for the Prize. It focuses us on the goal of the Christian life. It is not heaven; raher it is to be like Jesus Christ.
That is a very simple and basic thought. In fact, you may be questioning my wisdom in giving the reminder. Is that really even necessary?
The reason I say that is we so quickly become so complacent. I mean, let a person get saved, and if they aren’t careful, before very long that initial zeal and excitement and enthusiasm will be washed away into a very routine, dull, lifeless shroud of what they once enjoyed. And chances are, the longer you live as a Christian, the more you lose sight of that goal of being Christ like.
So I think it necessary to remind us that the Christian life is a process of pursuing Christ's likeness. We must become more and more like Jesus Christ. We never arrive. We never attain. We are in the constant, relentless pursuit of perfection.
And simply stated, that is the Christian life. The goal of every Christian's life is to be like Christ. That is the thing which we pursue.
That’s why Paul begins this section by saying just that in verse 12.
Paul says I haven't arrived at perfection, I am not like Christ. But that's why God laid hold of me and that's what I desire...I haven't arrived, I haven't obtained it. But I press on. I must be like Christ. So that’s what we found in verses 12-16
Now, as we come to verse 17, Paul want gets very practical and he suggests to us that there are three helps provided to us to assist as we pursue Christ-likeness.
And I want us to look at these one at a time beginning tonight. And let me just go ahead and mention them all to you, and then we’ll add some meat to the skeleton.
He says if we are going to pursue Christ-likeness, we must Follow Our Examples, that’s verse 17. Then, number two, we are to Flee Our Enemies, that’s verses 18 and 19. Then in verses 20-21, we are to Fix Our Expectations.
This is very practical. So let’s look at the first one.
If I am to pursue this goal of Christ's likeness, then I need to follow some example to show me how.
Look at verse 17
He’s just talked about how he is pursuing the prize and reaching for the goal, and now he says you join in. You need to be reaching for the prize also, so follow my example and the example of others who are living right.
Now let me talk to you about that for just a moment, I want you to understand it. First of all, Paul is not putting himself on a pedestal, not a pedestal of perfection.
Paul is not saying, "I'm perfect, be like me." What Paul is saying is, "I'm imperfect, follow the way I move toward that perfection."
He wants us to understand in verses 12 to 16 that he has not obtained it, that he is not already perfect, that he has not already arrived. And if you read the New Testament, you are very much aware of that. God had to give him a thorn in the flesh to keep him from being too proud because he was prone to pride. He had to be rebuffed and rebuked significantly for letting his mouth flow against the high priest at the end of the book of Acts and say things that he never should have said. No, he was not a perfect man. And in that lies the significance of his example.
In fact, in 1 Timothy 1:15 he said, "I am foremost of sinners," not I was, but I am. And surely he understood the principle of 1 John 1:7 and 9 that if you say you have no sin you make God a liar. So he is not sinless. He has not reached perfection. He has not had his sin nature eradicated. He is saying I am sinner, I have problems with my flesh but I am pursuing the goal, follow my example.
Now listen to this. Think it through. If he had become perfect, he wouldn't do us any good as an example. We have to follow someone who is not perfect so we can see how to deal with our imperfection in the path in the process.
Let me give you an illustration. If I were to climb a high mountain, a dangerous climbing expedition alone, which, by the way, is a very remote possibility. But should it occur, and should I decide to climb this mountain and should I get equipped with all the stuff you need to climb this precarious precipice, of what significance would it be for a helicopter to fly across the peak of that thing and drop some guy on the top and have that guy up there looking down and shouting, "I'm up here, this is where you want to come? If you can just get up here, this is the top."
And I'm looking up and I'm down here and he's up there. The problem is, he got up there by a helicopter and he doesn't know the way up either. He hasn't gone that route. He is not of much help to me. In fact, the more he hollers at me on the way up, the more frustrating it will become. What I would rather have is some guy ahead of me who is climbing the path and says, "Follow me, I know the way up."
All illustrations fall short when endeavoring to make an analogy regarding Christ, but in a sense that's the picture. Christ is on the top and says I'm the goal, I'm the object, I have attained this, this is what you want to be, this is where you want to arrive."
And I'm on the bottom saying, "Yeah, but I don't know the way up there." And Christ, in a sense, can't show me the way because He never walked the path to perfection, He was always perfect. Do you understand? So what I need is somebody who models the way up, who shows me the process.
How do I deal with my fallen flesh? How do I deal with the struggles of life? How do I deal with disappointment? How do I deal with trials? How do I deal with pride? How do I deal with temptation? How do I deal with sin?
Somebody's got to show me that path because it's only in the overcoming of my sinfulness that I move toward being like Christ, so I have to follow somebody who is battling to overcome sin. Yes, the goal is Christ, the perfect one is Christ, the perfect model, the perfect standard, the perfect pattern is Christ, but I need someone else to follow. If I'm going to climb this mountain, I want somebody who knows the way with a rope around his waist hooked to mine, who pulls me up the right way.
That's Paul. Paul put himself in that position numerous times. And he is saying I'm not the perfect model, that's Christ. I'm just somebody you can follow on the path of victory. So he says, look at verse 17, "Join in following my example."
"I am pressing on toward the goal, you watch how I do it." You know, I believe that there isn't any better historical example than Paul. And that is one of the reasons, surely, why the Holy Spirit filled the New Testament with that one man. He dominates everything after the gospels. He dominates the book of Acts from chapter 13 on.
Thirteen of the epistles came out of his pen and out of his heart and out of his mind and out of his life. He's a dominant figure. And why? Because we can pattern ourselves after him. We can see how he struggled with the flesh. He is a model for us of virtue, he is a model for us of morality.
He's a model of victory and temptation. He's a model for us of worship. He's a model for us of service. He's a model for us of patience and endurance and suffering. He's a model of handling temper. He's a model of handling possessions. He's a model of handling relationships.
In so many ways he shows us how godliness deals with fallenness, something Christ could never show us because He was never fallen. And I believe that one of the reasons the Holy Spirit has loaded the New Testament with this man is because he is such a marvelous pattern. That's why he said to the Corinthians twice, "Be followers of me." That's why he wrote to the Thessalonians, chapter 1 verse 6, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord whom we imitate."
So, as you study the New Testament and as I do, we can see through the life of Paul so much that helps us. And I confess to you, beloved, that through the life of this guy in my ministry, the number one model has been Paul. He is the pattern of the pathway, the pursuit. He's the climber that I try to follow after. I try to see how he handled situations. I try to hear his heartbeat. I can go back and read and read and read the same things over and over and over about Paul as reminders of how I'm to respond, how I'm to live, how I'm to act, how I'm to order my priorities, how I'm to deal with trials and suffering and trouble. He is a constant pattern for me, constant.
That’s what we find in verse 17 when he says “note those”. It is more than just being aware of. It is fixing your gaze upon. It is intently observing. Taking note of.
So if we can sum it up, the idea here would be this: Christ is the goal, Christ is the standard, Christ is the model, we are to be like Christ. In order to know how Christ is, we study the Word of God. We study it until the Word about Christ dwells in us deeply, then we have a deep understanding of Christ so we know what He's like so we know what we're to be like. Secondly, we yield to the Spirit of God who keeps molding us into that likeness which we understand.
And in order to get that in practical terms, find someone to follow. So we follow Paul who literally is revealed to us in a replete way in the New Testament, so we have plenty of data in order to know how he lived and how he acted.
But beyond that, we need some flesh and blood tangible living breathing people that we can also follow, and so Paul takes it a step further and says, "Take note of those who so walk”
We have the same situation today. The goal is Christ. We have a wonderful pattern for pursuing the goal in Paul. But we need some flesh and blood examples, don't we? We don't have Timothy, we don't have Epaphroditus. They didn't write anything.
So we have nothing to follow by way of written material. But we have pastors and teachers and friends and church brothers and sisters who are to set the pattern.
Live an exemplary life. Why? You're showing people the path. Yes, they see the perfection of Christ. Yes, they can read about the path of Paul.
But they need somebody they can touch, somebody they can watch, somebody they can feel, somebody they can talk to, somebody they can know, somebody in their world in their time in their place they can follow.
It is important what I say, it is important what any teacher of the Word of God says, it is essential that we teach truth, that we be true to the Word of God. But it must be sustained, supported, surrounded, undergirded by a virtuous life. You're coming up that same mountain and you can see the goal at the top, but you need somebody whose rope you can hang on to, somebody you can touch and grasp so that you can follow the path.
Personally, I believe this is one of the most serious failings in the church today. I don't know all that church history will record in the future. But I think it will record with the disastrous collapse of so many spiritual leaders, quote/unquote, that the standard of expectation was lowered and many many many thousands, if not millions, of people lost their way on the path to Christ's likeness. That's the tragedy.
I mean, where do you go to find the Timothys and the Epaphroditus? Where are the holy men? Where are the truthful men? Where are the kind and those who manifest the meekness and gentleness of Christ? Where are the powerful? Where are the humble? Where are the unselfish models of virtue?
Where are those who show us the path of victory over temptation? Where are those who walk that holy walk? Where are those who show us the path of prayer, inadversity? Where are those who show us how to handle trial and difficulty?
Who can we observe? Who can we hold on to? Whose rope will help us climb? Who lives the truth? Who are the leaders that can say, "Imitate me, don't just listen to me, imitate me". That's the mandate.
The pattern is very simple. Christ is the goal, Scripture reveals what He's like. The Spirit of God is the power to move you into His image. Paul has given you a path to follow. The church is to put flesh and blood leadership in your view that you can observe very closely in order to see how to walk.
We have a sick and distorted church because we have lost our way. We have lost our way simply because we've lost sight of Christ, we've lost sight of the Word and the Spirit. We've lost sight of the clear crystal clear patterns of teaching in the Apostle Paul's revelation. And we don't have the leadership that we so desperately need to follow. And we tolerate a lower standard of leadership than the Bible would ever allow.
The simplicity of Christian living is to be like Christ. That covers all the bases. That will take care of living to the glory of God. That will take care of all the relationships in your life because Christlikeness produces right relationships. That will take care of the matters of Christian service. That will take care of the matters of evangelism. How did we ever get so defused into so much stuff and lose sight of the simplicity of becoming like Jesus Christ?
Let's bow together in prayer.
