| Introduction The Babylon Bee is satirical news website that I find very funny. For me, the Babylon Bee's posts are funny because they are so close to the truth. On January 1, it posted the following headline: local man's Bible excited to be read for whole first week of January again. This is a satire of the way that we tend to make resolutions in the beginning of the year to grow in Christ, to avail ourselves of the means of grace like reading the Bible, to change and then we peter out. New Year's resolutions are neither here nor there. They can help us get started on doing something or they can just be a source of discouragement. Whether you make them or not, there are some things that you must be resolved to do any and all times of the year. One of them is pressing toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I. Two Opposing Teachings Led Paul to Write This Passage. A.Jewish Legalism, 2-3 (and 4-11). 1. The proponents of this teaching put their confidence in the flesh, that is, they thought that who they were in themselves and what they did determined whether God would welcome them into his kingdom. a. For them, their pedigree mattered tremendously. b. In addition to that, their religious performance earned God's saving approval. c. That's why Paul lists his credentials and says that they don't matter, 4-6. 2. This group confused their sanctification with their justification. a. They taught that growth in holiness in this life would determine whether God would accept us in the life to come. b. Paul calls those who hold to this idea "evil workers," 2. 1. This teaching says that whether you obey God's Word or not has no impact at all on your life. a. You are not required at all to obey God. b. You can go on sinning in whatever way you want because your salvation is eternally secured. 2. This group confused their justification with their sanctification. a. Jesus did it all; therefore, I don't need to do anything – completely true as far as God's declaration that we are righteous in his sight. b. But this teaching misses the point that we are justified unto obedience. Eph. 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 1 Pt. 1:1-2 – Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…. II. Either Belief Drives Us Away from Christ. A.Legalism says, "Do all these things in this list and you will be just fine." 1. There is no need for Christ. 2. You just have to be really good. 3. Jesus becomes just an add-on. B. Antinomianism says, "Believe in Jesus and live however you want." 1. Jesus becomes a box to check, and once you checked it you don't have to think about it again. 2. You now are free to live for yourself. C. Both positions result in self-centered, selfish living that has very little room for Jesus. D.So, the apostle addresses both issues. E. Paul's directive is believe in Christ and press on toward Christ. III. What Pressing Means. A.In describing how Christians grow, Paul uses an analogy from sports, particularly from track & field. 2. "… reaching forward to those things which are ahead…." 13. 3. "I press toward the goal…." 14. B. The picture here is of a runner exerting extreme effort to stretch every fiber of every muscle toward the finish line, leaving no resource in his body untapped. 1. We see this concept in every sport – athletes are encouraged to push through the end. 2. In the same way as an athlete, the Christian pursues Christ throughout his/her whole life. "For as it would profit the runner nothing to have left the starting-point, unless he went forward to the goal, so we must also pursue the course of our calling until death, and must not cease until we have obtained what we seek." John Calvin C. It is important that we realize that the pressing of v. 12b can only happen if the loss of vv. 7-8 has already taken place. 1. All the accomplishments of life are less than nothing because Christ has invaded our lives – dung. 2. God has laid hold of us in Christ and now we pursue what he already secured for us, 12b – in Paul's case, a reference to his Damascus Road experience. 3. We pursue growth in Jesus because he already grabbed hold of us for that purpose. Eph. 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Col. 3:1-4 – If [since] then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 4. Those who have counted all things as loss for the sake of Christ cannot do anything but press on. D.Pressing toward Christ is a life consuming and focused pursuit, 13 – "one thing I do." "One thing… was the consuming passion of his life." Homer Kent 1. Paul is not trying to figure everything out in life; he is not too worried about his perfection or imperfection; he is not concerned with whether he got a fair shake in life – he just presses on. 2. He presses on toward a goal, 14. a. The word translated goal is skopos from which we get the English word scope. b. It implies a single-minded focus – some scholars translate this word as "that on which I fix my gaze." 1) A sniper is not concerned with anything else but what he sees through his scope. 2) That's the type of single-mindedness that should mark our growth in Christ. 3. He doesn't look back, 13 – "forgetting those things that are behind." a. The past should not impede progress. b. In our pursuit of Christ, we cannot be absorbed with the past: good or bad. 1) We are back to the sports analogy – a runner that looks around to see where everybody else is, or what he has done, will lose precious time and waste energy. 2) Good things that we have done could slow us down as we stop to contemplate them – that's the point Paul was making in 4-6 and having confidence in the flesh. 3) Bad things we have done can be used as excuses to not following Christ in obedience. E. The goal that he is pursuing is something that he hasn't attained yet, 12. 1. Paul hasn't attained in the reality of this life what is positionally true of every Christian because of our union with Christ. 2. The goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ is described in vv. 8c-11. a. Gain Christ – Christ-likeness. b. Be found in him – the final proclamation by Christ at the last days. c. Know him – full knowledge of Christ. d. Attain to the resurrection. 3. In essence, we are called to move closer on earth to the realities of heaven! "I do not consider that I have the prize already in my grasp. This, and this only, is my rule. Forgetting the landmarks already passed and straining every nerve and muscle in the onward race, I press forward ever towards the goal, that I may win the prize of my heavenly rest whereunto God has called me in Christ Jesus." J.B. Lightfoot's paraphrase 4. Before anyone thinks that we earn heaven by becoming more like Christ, let me say that this passage parallels what Paul said earlier in the epistle – sanctification (the process of growth and transformation) is a work of God's free grace in which we participate. 5. It feels like we are doing it, but at the end it is God's doing it in and through us. Phil. 2:12-13 – Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Phil 1:6 – … being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…. IV. Why Do We Have to Grow, to Press on? Because We Are Still Sinners! "The church is not a hotel for saints, it is a hospital for sinners." Attributed to Augustine of Hyppo A.Christians still struggle with sin – often it is not hypocrisy, just sin. B. That's why Paul describes the pursuit of Christ as a continual process – verbs in the present active indicative (including the counting loss). C. Paul also acknowledges that in the church Christians will be in different stages of their sanctification process, 15-16. 1. Recognizing that we all may be in different stages of our fight with sin brings us together. "Paul recognizes that Christians, though proceeding along the same path, may be at different stages of progress and should be faithful to as much of God's truth as they understand." V. How Do We Press on in Real Life? A.It starts by realizing that we are all works in progress. 1. That is part of being mature. 2. I recognize that I am a work in progress and that you are a work in progress. B. It continues by our repenting from any notion that we can't by the Spirit of God press on to Christ. 1. We are really good at coming up with lists of reasons why pressing on is not for us or why we can't press on. 2. Yet, the Spirit says through Paul that that's the one thing we CAN do. 3. These lists are more about what we won't do than about what we can't do. a. "I can't forgive" is more likely "I won't forgive." b. "I can't stop looking at pornography" is more likely "I don't want to stop." c. "I can't love my spouse" is more likely "I won't love my spouse." d. "I can't help those who are around me" is more likely "I don't want to do so." C. Obey what God says in his Word about whatever situation or stage you are in life. 1. It is a misunderstanding of what grace is to think that we don't have to obey what God says in the Bible, that we only have to obey if we feel like obeying, or that we have to wait till some future time when God will zap us in order to do now what we know we should do. 2. Christ lived a perfect life, died the death of sinners on the cross, and was raised from the dead to bring newness of life to those who believe in him – all the grace in the universe has been secured by that. a. When we say "I know the Bible says this or that, but…" we are saying that we don't really believe in whom Jesus is and in what he did for us. b. We don't have to wait for some future work of God for us to obey now. D.Study what the Bible says about growth in Christ, about transformation, then follow what it says – as an example, turn to Rom. 12. 1. Be transformed in vv. 1-2. 2. How? For I say in v. 3 introducing very practical things in the rest of the chapter. E. Don't settle for what is easy and natural. 1. It is easy and natural to hate people. 2. It is easy and natural to give up on people. 3. It is easy and natural to neglect your relationships. 4. It is easy and natural to be selfish. 5. It is easy and natural to go to hell. F. Go for the supernatural – what you can only accomplish because the Spirit of God dwells in you. 2. Submit to your husband. 3. Be faithful to one another. 4. Raise your child in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. 5. Obey and honor your parents. 6. Serve and love your neighbor. 7. Live a single life of contentment and purity.
In another headline, The Babylon Bee announces, "Neil DeGrasse Tyson commemorates another meaningless circuit around sun." This is a joke about the inconsistent position of rationalistic atheism. It is also true. The end of a year and the beginning of another is just a random celebration. We don't have to wait for the beginning of a year in order to lay hold of what Christ has already laid hold of us for. In January we press toward the goal of our calling in Christ, and we do that in February, March, etc. God has so much for us as far as growth is concerned. God who is working in you to want and to do his good pleasure.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2018/01/pressing-toward-goal-phil-312-16.html
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