Philippians 3:12-16 Press On By Faith In Christ!

Philippians 3:12-16  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.  And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained. 

What have we already attained?  Through faith in Christ and his works, we have attained righteousness, peace, love; harmony with God.  No longer are we outside of God's plan of restoring humans to an intimate relationship with him, a closer bonding than walking and talking with him in the Garden.  His plan of creating children who abide eternally with him in the inner most part of his heart is our inheritance.  On the cross, Jesus paid the complete price for this close relationship.  Through his works alone, we have obtained salvation: right standing with God the Father.  We are no longer considered God's enemies, but his friends, his beloved children.  Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.  (Romans 5:1-2)  We have attained this privileged position because of God's grace and mercy.  He has fulfilled both sides of his covenant with mankind: his side and ours as humans through the works of Jesus Christ.  Jesus became human to fulfill our side.  We, in our flesh, fall short of perfection: sinlessness.  We are unable to keep his law of righteousness; we are lawbreakers, covenant breakers, our hearts without Christ are deceitfully wicked.   "We will do it," as the Children of Israel proclaimed when the law and its regulations were read, is often our proclamation to God, but we eventually discover that our wayward spirits will not do it.  Our basic nature is not conducive to following God's laws, his plans.  We cannot fulfill our part of the covenant of righteousness through our works.  Consequently, Paul exhilarating message is to leave the old ways of pleasing God through our works and let us live up to that which has already been attained through the work of the cross: God's mercy and grace, liberally poured out on all flesh through the work of his Son.

What goal are we pressing on to win?  What prize is there for us?  Paul says in verse 11, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Are we not living in the presence of God through faith in Christ's work?  Are we not new creatures, born again by the blood of the Lamb?  Paul realizes we have been given the genesis of a new creature.  From the throne of God, we have been given righteousness, justice, peace, love.  All of this and more is part of the nature of God, freely given to mankind if we will partake of what God freely offers.  As sure as God is real, not an imagination, so are these attributes of God.  They are not just good thoughts, psychological states, emotional ways of thinking.  No, they are as real as God himself.  They penetrate our hearts if we allow them to enter our domain of thinking and acting.  Paul is pressing on to allow God's attributes to become his total character, personality.  He is pressing on to allow God's nature to replace his nature in everything he does.  Paul desires his life to be moving heavenward, moving into the nature of an adopted son of God, which someday will culminate in full bloom at his own resurrection.  At that day, he will be fully known as a child of God.  We also have that inheritance before us.  We will be know as his children: his sons, his daughters when we pass onto the other side.  As we read in the Word: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.  (Romans 8:16-17 KJV)  All of us who are mature in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and his works should understand our true nature as sons and daughters of the Most High.  If we have difficulty catching hold of our true nature in God, we should remember the works we have already attained.  

Now, let us consider the practicalities of living for Christ.  Even though, Jesus has given us right standing with God and his Spirit, we still live in a world of struggle and temptation.  We often fall short of displaying God and his attributes to the world.  Even though we have the nature of God in us: his righteousness, his peace, his joy, his justice, and so on, we many times fail to demonstrate HIS image to the world through our actions and reactions.  We claim to have his Spirit within; yet, at times we fail to reveal his grace and mercy to others.  Rather than behaving Christ-like, we become short tempered, judgmental, or even self-righteous.  In times when we are anxious, troubled, upset, or depressed, we can accentuate fleshly thinking rather than heavenly thinking.  When faith in God loses its preeminence, we tend to lose sight of God and his purposes, substituting the reactions of the flesh, which carry dire consequences.  Paul says, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  I press to know Jesus in my everyday life.  I strive to exercise his resurrection power that makes me new, a creature of heaven and not of this world.  I ignore things of this world that will drag me down to cringing, fearful actions and thoughts.  I will not let anger seduce me, to create in me hurt and devastation.  I will not be up one day and down the next day, violating the divine nature of God within me, his steadfastness.  God is the same yesterday, today, and  forever.  Of course, living for Jesus, putting on his nature, is a constant challenge for all of us.  We cannot say as the Israelites said so many centuries ago: "We will do it."  We will be good.  We will please you, God, at all times.  No, we cannot even come close to God's nature in our flesh, but what we can do through Bible reading, prayer, and meditation, is renew our minds daily.  We can display God by loving others, by being sensitive to God's words and his divine instruction inside of us.  We are his hands, we are his feet.  GOD LIVES, HE LIVES IN US.  HE LOVES THE WORLD.  WE ARE TO LOVE AS HE LOVES.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  This we will do by the power of the Holy Spirit.  As we know: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.  (Zechariah 4:6)  

Philippians 3:7-11 Take Up the Cross, Follow Jesus!

Philippians 3:7-11  But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

Paul lost everything in this world when he made the decision to sell out for Christ.  As we read in the previous breakfast, he had status in his religion, culture, and community: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.  (Philippians 3:5-6)  Paul's family and friends must have been very proud of him as he gained recognition, position, and reputation within the Jewish society.  Paul, as a young man, was on top of the world as far as success in this world was concerned, but now we see Paul after his conversion, happy that he has lost his position for the purpose of gaining Christ in his life.  Paul considered all that he previously had gained in the world as rubbish, as dung, as a manure pile in reference to knowing Christ and his righteousness.  He now has a righteousness, an acceptance with God, not of his own, but of the Son of God.  He now has favor with God the Father.  How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.  Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  And this gave him great pleasure.  (Ephesians 1:3-5)  Paul understood that faith in Christ and his works made him holy and without fault in his (God's) eyes.  The sacrifice Paul paid for following Jesus was nothing compared to the richness of God's love towards him.  He would gladly suffer all things to win Christ and God's approval.  He would endure all things to win eternal life, to be placed forever in the body of Christ.  Paul wanted to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.  He wanted Christ's resurrection power to flow through him, causing him no longer to be bound to this earth, but to eternity.  

Paul also wanted to know the fellowship of sharing in his (Christ's) sufferings, becoming like him in his death.  Jesus died to this world.  This world had nothing in him.  He did not live to gain the world but to save the world.  Jesus knew salvation would come through his suffering, his death, not his great accomplishments or his miracles and success in the world.  He held no throne, no position of honor in this world; yet through his suffering and death, He brought life to "whosoever will."  We who are IN CHRIST are the "whosoever will."  Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  (Mark 8:34-37, KJV)  Jesus wants us to live for the Kingdom of God and not this world.  As we deny ourselves the things of this world, take up the cross of Christ, we become his followers, people of the Way.  If we live for his kingdom, we will bring life and light to the world; but if we live for our kingdom, we will benefit only ourselves in this dark and desperate world.  To attain to the resurrection from the dead, Paul had to commit his life totally to Christ; anything less would fall far short of God's purposes for his life.  This is the life we embrace as believers, a life totally committed to the One we love.  When Peter told the church that they might suffer for righteousness sake, he also said concerning Christ, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.  For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  (1 Peter 2:24-25)

We who live in the twenty-first century have the same obligation upon us as Paul.  We have been crucified with Christ and raised in newness of life by the Holy Spirit within us.  We are to be one-hundred percent in for the cause of Christ.  Anything less will not be acceptable to God.  Jesus told the disciples He must go away to send the Holy Spirit to teach them and to convict the world of righteousness.  Jesus also said, when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.  (John 16:13)  We can walk in the truth, doing God's will as the Holy Spirit leads us.  As Paul told the church at Ephesus, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:10)  If for fleshly reasons, we fail to produce good works, we are failing God's purposes for our lives.  We cannot be half in and half out.  We cannot have sweet and bitter water coming from the same container.  We cannot be a chameleon, changing our allegiance whenever it pleases us.  One day we are in the world completely; the next day we are sold out for Christ.  We cannot partake from the containers of violence and sin; then supposedly drink heartily at the fountain of living water.  We cannot complete the race of Christ by running half-heartedly.  We should be passionate about serving the Lord, fully committed.  Our minds should constantly commune with God.  Our lips should express faith and praise in words and songs.  If we are not zealous for God, this world is too much with us.  If we do not want to deny ourselves of any of the "goodies" of this world, we must wonder what Jesus meant when He asked us to deny ourselves and to take up the cross.  Paul says, Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.  (Romans 8:5-8)  Dear ones, let us please God in word and deed.  Let us yield to the Holy Spirit, allowing him to shape and mold us into the image of our dear Lord. 

Philippians 3:1-6 Rejoice By Faith!

Philippians 3:1-6  Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!  It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.  Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.  For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reasons for such confidence.  If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 

Paul concludes his instructions and admonitions from chapter 2 with the statement: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!  He says to the church at Philippi, regardless of how successfully you have been serving the Lord, rejoice in the work of Christ purely because He is your propitiation for sin.  He is the creator of the new life in you, and we glory in Christ Jesus, putting our trust in his sacrifice for our sins.  Even though the Philippians might be circumcised and legalistically righteous by their obedience to the law and its tenets, Paul tells them to give Jesus the glory, for He alone has made them completely righteous before God.  The Bible says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin.  (Romans 14:23)  In our everyday lives, there are many instances when we do not live by faith.  There are times when we are filled with anxiety or fear because of what might happen in difficult situations, such as a sickness, a financial collapse, a job lost, and so on.  In these situations, our faith often subsides and our fears or anxieties mount.  We allow our assurance in God to fall to the wayside as we think of all the terrible possibilities ahead of us.  In those moments of faithlessness, we are telling God that He is not enough for our lives.  We wrestle back the control of our lives from him when we need him most. These are times when we are living outside of complete faith in God and his love.  All of us go through these times.  Yet we must remember what we read in God's Word: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.   How can we live to please God, if our basic feelings, honest feelings, can be viewed as outside of God's will for us?  SOLUTION: WE TRUST IN CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS AND NOT OUR OWN!  WE TRUST IN GOD'S GOODNESS AND NOT OUR OWN.  WE TRUST IN GOD'S FAITHFULNESS AND NOT OUR OWN.  All of us who believe in Christ by faith will be in that position of trust when we breathe our last breath.  We will of necessity have to trust completely in his righteousness, goodness, and faithfulness; for we will not be able to help ourselves any longer.  This of course is the faith that spans eternity; this is the faith we lay at God's feet, when we are on the brink of death.  Not our own life, but his life.  Only faith in Jesus takes us to the other side.  

In chapter 2, we hear Paul speak about Jesus becoming a servant to all and how Christ humbled himself and became obedient to death.  (Philippians 2:8)  We too are to humble ourselves, to take on the role of a servant to all.  We are not to take our place of equality among our brethren as being necessary, but to become nothing for the service of God.  But all of this can just become a process of good works, doing good because God expects us to be good, to be like him.  To be perfect!  But Paul says at the beginning of this chapter: rejoice in the Lord!  The lifestyle of a servant is good, helpful, and Christ-like.  Yes, serving is the Christian thing to do; yes, it reaps wonderful results; yes, it changes the lives of everyone around you, including your family; but all of these admonitions and instructions fail to make us as God is, even though the scriptures say, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 2:5)  This kind of mind in us, through the flesh's efforts, mirrors God; but nothing can change the true nature of man into God's nature other than the miraculous work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  His work alone perfects us.  His work alone makes us children of God.  Nothing else will change our basic nature, accommodate the eternal presence of God.  We will sometimes fail to do the right thing, to have the wrong attitude in us, our self-willed mind; but God's work in us through Christ identifies us as his own.  Our souls' DNA has been changed permanently.  We have been changed from sinner to saint, from alien to friend, from orphan to family.  We are no longer alone in the universe: we are his children.  Therefore, Paul says emphatically: rejoice in the Lord!  We have a tremendous hope, as Paul wrote: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)

Now, Paul understood how easily people rejoice in their own exploits, experiences, knowledge, and wisdom.  He understood how easily men and women justify their lives before God, relying on their religiosity and works rather than Christ's finished work at the cross and his continuing work in every believer.  Paul put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reasons for such confidence.  If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.  He lists his qualifications not as a way of bragging but to show that he is faultless in fulfilling the tenets of the law.  Before he came to Christ, he was as other Pharisees: meticulous in following the law, even to tithing one-tenth of their spices to God.  He undoubtedly received much praise for his zeal to God from the people surrounding him.  The leaders of the Jewish religious elite favored him by giving him the heavy responsibility of destroying any apostasy within the Judaic religion, thus the persecution of the Jewish Christians.  But he counted all his favors and elevation within the Jewish community as dung.  He counted all of his previous religious and life experiences as worthless that he might win Christ.  He knew that nothing, even a circumspect life, could win God's favor, eternal life; only Christ's work could win God's approval.  He wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.  (1 Timothy 1:15-16)  Therefore, nothing could distract Paul from putting his trust totally in Jesus Christ and his righteousness.  Dear breakfast companions, Christ's work and his work alone has made us acceptable to God.  Rest in that knowledge!  Work for him!  Live for him!  The Creator of all things has brought new life to us, eternal life!  He is our Grace!  Praise him, children of the MOST HIGH.  

Philippians 2:25-30 Live For Jesus, Not the World!

Philippians 2:25-30  But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.  For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.  Indeed he was ill, and almost died.  But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.  Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.  Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me. 

Epaphroditus, a servant of the Lord, faithfully served Paul in Rome.  The Philippian church had sent him to take care of Paul's needs.  During his stay in Rome he became ill primarily due to the work of Christ, maybe due to toiling excessively hard for the work of the cross.  No one really knows the details, but Paul says this dear brother almost died, and he was risking his life to make up for the help you (the Philippians) could not give me.  Whatever happened to him, he was sick unto death, but God intervened, sparing him from death at that time, causing Paul to rejoice for Epaphroditus was much loved by him.  Paul seemingly was concerned that Epaphroditus might die away from his homeland and loved ones: Paul states: God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.  Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.  Because of God's mercy, Epaphroditus journeyed back to the Philippians with a letter from Paul.  He was spared from death to fulfill the mission God had for him.  This is our life as believers in a nutshell: we are to journey where God has asked us to journey; we are to live each day to fulfill God's will in our lives, serving where He calls us to serve.  The script for each person's life has been written in blood, the blood of Jesus Christ.  We no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ; HE lives in us and we in HIM.  As Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  (Galatians 2:20)  THIS IS THE GLORIOUS LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN!    

We often clutter our lives with the noise, activities, and countless diversions of this world that distract us from completing the mission God sets before us.  We miss God's purposes by eating and drinking our way through life.  We are not literally eating and drinking, but we ignore our reason for living by entangling our lives so deeply in the world that we cannot hear anything but the voice of others and the concerns of the world.  In today's electronic age, we hear about all the world's problems in nanoseconds: every bombing, shooting, disruption, and exhilaration.  We also learn of every difficulty or excitement our acquaintances experience.  We learn all of this immediately by the gadgets we hold in our hands.  This is where many of us live out our lives.  In doing so, God's will for us has been put aside, definitely placed in a secondary position in our purposes for living.  Jesus said: The eye is the lamp of the body.  So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.  (Matthew 6:22-24)  When we become so involved with this side of eternity, we forget the main goal of life: to love God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul.  Consequently, we neglect the activities important to the Spirit within us: to love and serve others.  Instead, we substitute electronic communication for intimate interactions.  We express our concerns for others from a distance, rejecting any tangible involvement.  Yes, we tend to clutter our lives with everything but God and his ways.  Likewise when we lose sight of our real purpose in life, we teach our children to clutter their lives with activities, always pressing on to the next idea, adventure, or thrill.  With no time to rest, we continue eating, drinking, and being merry.  The journey God desires is eaten up by gluttonous desires and selfish pursuits.  We become lost in this finite world of darkness when we exclusively follow this path through a wasteland.  With no oasis near, no rest for our souls, no time to think about God or the purpose of life, is it any wonder people become tired and weary?  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eight percent of the population twelve and over are depressed with the highest rates among individuals aged forty to fifty-nine.  If we added the statistics for drug and alcohol abuse, we would see we are not providing a peaceful and happy life for many in our country with all its allurements.  Many lack comfort and healing, a safe harbor.

There will be a day, just as Paul assessed Epaphroditus' life, when God will assess our lives.  There will be a day that our lives will be opened up like a book.  Then God will investigate our lives in a loving, intimate way.  He will investigate whether we heard his voice as we journeyed.  Did we follow him to green pastures, where still waters exist?  Did we hear his voice restoring our souls, helping us to navigate this life, providing a sure avenue through the shadow of death?  Did we accept his words of comfort, stamping out the fears of life, providing hope when we faced confusion?  Did we read in his Word that we are righteous, and He will never leave us nor forsake us, or let the enemy of our souls defeat us?  Did we know assuredly that the oil of the Spirit has anointed us completely?  Were we sensitive to hear his words that goodness and love will follow us every day of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the LORD forever?  Breakfast companions, do not clutter your lives with the constant noise and activities of this world.  God's still, small voice is beseeching us to live his life in this dark world.  Let us cease from listening to the constant haranguing clamor of the world that keeps us from hearing his quiet voice.  Faith is needed to listen: we must believe God is speaking and desires to communicate with us. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  (Hebrews 11:6)  If we fail to realize that God is alive and is willing to help us through life, we will be as people on an endless merry-go-round, never stopping, but never going anyplace either.  The noise eventually will become shallow, even maddening, certainly meaningless.  We will begin to understand the activity of the ride is but a facade, all of it covering up the real journey of life, to know God and his love.  Dear friends, do not fall into depression and unbelief by following the activities and sounds of the carnival of life.  You will never find peace or satisfaction in this life if you follow that canard, that deception.  Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.  (Isaiah 55:6)  Seek the Lord, for his voice is always active, and He wants you to know his voice today.