Paul's Example - Pressing on for the Prize - Part 1

Alright, let's take our Bible. Let's turn to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 3, many of you know or you will remember where we are or where we should be. That is starting in verse 12. We are going to be in verses 12 to 16 tonight although we will not cover all of these verses. It has been quite a while since we have been here. I have missed it. Like I said earlier I need the book of Philippians and I need to be back in the study of Philippians. We studied verses 1 to 11 in two parts. You will remember I called these messages Paul's example, the priceless privileges of knowing him.

We looked at part 1 November 29th and part 2 December 6th. That has gone by very, very fast. Now in those verses and how we studied those verses we learned that Paul was doing two primary things. First he was warning the Philippian church about the great danger of the Judaizers who were a real and legitimate threat to the church. I said many times that it is like they were right outside the door. They were across town but they were a real threat. And their grave mistake was simple. The Judaizers mixed law keeping or works along with grace.

They taught that one was saved by grace through faith and they mixed keeping certain parts of the Old Testament law and law keeping along with grace which made their salvation a salvation of works. But then second in warning the Philippian church about the great danger of the Judaizers Paul used himself as an example. He explained to them that if there was any person who could put confidence in works of the flesh to obtain a right standing with God it was him. It was him. He explained that if there was any person who could obtain a right standing with God through their religious heritage and their works in Judaism it was him.

He said that emphatically, boldly. And he went on to say that on the day when Jesus revealed Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus he took his great religious heritage and all of his great religious works those things he was relying on to be made right with God and he put all those things in the lost column of the spreadsheet of salvation and at the very same time he then put Christ and knowing Christ in the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation. And in using himself as an example for the Philippians up against the Judaizers Paul gave the Philippians what I called five priceless privileges from knowing Christ.

Now I'm not going to get back into those. I would challenge you to read back over those verses, read back over your notes if you need to go back and get those two messages so that teaching is in your mind because all of this is connected. Now as we move into verses seven to as we move into verses seven to eleven we see a shift in Paul's approach. He is still being autobiographical. He is still using himself as an example and as a teaching tool. But Paul moves from using accounting language and we will see he begins to use athletic language.

He moves from Paul the accountant who moved Christ into the gain column of the spreadsheet of salvation to Paul the athlete who was pressing on for the upward price with great strength and great determination. John MacArthur says something that is very interesting and rather funny to me. He says because Paul used so many athletic metaphors in all of his writing he must have been a fan of sports. That seems funny, humorous, almost like really? But think about it. MacArthur pointed out that Paul used the example of boxing in 1 Corinthians 9, the example of wrestling in Ephesians 6.

He spoke of fighting a good fight in 1 Timothy 6 and 2 Timothy 4. He spoke of the Istmian games in 1 Corinthians 9 which were second to the Olympic games. And his favorite metaphor, athletic metaphor was running, was running. Again being a little humorous maybe if Paul were alive today he would enjoy a good college football game. But he was multicultural, we're really not. So maybe he would have enjoyed modern day Olympics. You know that's kind of multicultural isn't it right? If he were alive today maybe he would be like Lee Corso off college game day. You all know who that is? Famous for saying not so fast my friend.

So if he saw us in the sin or the church kind of getting out of whack he would say not so fast my friend. But if he were alive today I think he would probably like Greco-Roman wrestling in the Olympics because they had wrestling back then. Now let's read our verses and let's see if we can hear and see the language of the athlete and the prize that Paul was striving for and working for. We're going to read all of these verses 12 to 16. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect but I press on. See the language? I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Brothers I do not consider that I have made it my own but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those who are mature think this way and if in anything you think otherwise God will reveal that also to you only let us hold true to what we have attained. Now out of these verses just like before we will see that Paul is obviously using himself as an example for the Philippian church those believers that he knew and loved.

And here Paul describes how he was working for, he was striving for and pursuing a certain prize. Two times he says he was pressing and this pressing speaks of running. This speaks of following after something even with aggression even with great energy. So like a great athlete with great energy and aggression Paul was pressing on for a particular prize which was being like Christ and the great benefits that come from being like Christ. Now this is how we're going to approach the verses. Here we have Paul's example pressing on for the prize. It's right there in the verses and that's going to be the thought of the message.

Paul's example pressing on for the prize. Now out of these verses we will see what is required so that we can press on for this prize just like Paul pressed on for the prize. Let me repeat that. Out of these verses we will see what is required of us so that we can press on for this prize just like Paul pressed on for this prize. Actually we will see five things that are required so as to press on for the prize. So number one, a proper perspective. You see this at the beginning of verse 12. To press on for the prize we need a proper perspective. Now right away Paul shows us that he had a proper self awareness.

He had a spiritual situational awareness. Let that sink in. Some of you have heard the term situational awareness. Well Paul had a spiritual situational awareness. Warren Wiersby says that Paul was dissatisfied. Yeah. Meaning that he knew that he had not attained the prize. So he had a proper self awareness or he was, he had an awareness of the spiritual situation. I'll give you an example. Sometimes there are people that come in and out of the church who are lost. They don't know Christ. They don't know Christ and they do not know it. So they lack a proper spiritual awareness. They just don't know that they don't know Christ.

So they need the Holy Spirit to reveal their situation. That's their great need and sometimes we see that. They go from a place of not knowing they're not Christian to realizing wait a minute I am not right with God and they have a proper spiritual situational awareness. Well here Paul shows us that he was completely aware that he had not obtained the prize. Look at verse 12. The beginning really the first part of verse 12. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. Now before we get into Paul's perspective we need to see what Paul means by becoming perfect. Look back at the verse.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect. We need to see what Paul means by becoming perfect because there are loads of misconceptions and mistakes that some can make here. Paul was in no way promoting some type of spiritual perfectionism. You may ask what in the world is Christian perfectionism? That really is a doctrine and a position and a belief. Christian perfectionism is the belief that believers can somehow attain a place of spiritual and moral perfection in life.

Some that believe in Christian perfectionism teach that believers need some type of second work of grace whereby the believer is somehow instantaneously made sinless. Years ago when I was a youth pastor I had a teenager in our ministry whose grandmother was Pentecostal and the branch of Pentecostalism that she was involved in and he had come out of they believed that they could receive a second feeling of the Holy Spirit and become sinless. So this young man's grandmother was always telling this young man that he needed this second feeling so that he could attain spiritual perfection and this was very, very confusing for this young man.

I spent lots of time counseling him here. There is, this is another subject for another day but John Wesley the famous founder of Methodism. John Wesley had a flawed view and doctrine here. He believed that the believer could become completely and totally sanctified or set apart. His view of total sanctification walked the line and some say crossed the line. It depends on how you view his teaching. His view of total sanctification walked the line or crossed the line into an unhealthy view of Christian perfectionism. Well we need to ask if Paul is not teaching Christian perfectionism then what is he saying? He uses the word perfect.

So we need to ask what Paul was saying. Here in verse 12 Paul was comparing himself to Christ. Not other men are another man's standard. And in seeing how Paul used this word perfect in verse 12 and then in verse 15 that helps us see what Paul was thinking and how he was comparing himself to Christ. Simply this, in verse 12 he was saying that he had not already obtained perfection but perfection in Christ is seen in Christ was and is the goal. And in verse 15 he was saying that he had not obtained perfection which is translated mature. Let me back up, excuse me.

And in verse 15 he was saying that he had obtained perfection which is translated mature in the English standard version. Now the new American keeps the original perfect but it is foot noted saying that really can be seen as mature. Other translations may do the same thing. Now let me tie this together. In verse 12 this is what Paul was saying. Because he was mature he understood that his goal was perfection in Christ as seen in Christ. Therefore he was dissatisfied because he could never attain this perfection in Christ as seen in the life of Christ.

So because he did not compare himself to others and he compared himself to Christ he had a proper perspective on the Christian life. He was dissatisfied because perfection in Christ as seen in Christ was and is the goal. He had what I call a spiritual situational awareness that was correct. Now there are some lessons here. We can fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others which can be a very very dangerous and destructive trap. On one hand we can compare ourselves to someone who is below us. And that can cause us to have a low view of what God expects out of us. And this can be a very very natural trap for some to fall into.

They look across the sanctuary. They look at other Christians and they see that they are much better off than them. So they feel fine. They feel satisfied. They relax. That's a trap. On the other hand we can compare ourselves to someone who is above us which can be bad unless the one that we are emulating is emulating Paul in the teaching here. Well comparing ourselves to them can be bad. But was it Paul using himself as an example? So does that teach us that we can have examples in our life that are human? Yes. So having spiritual heroes and mentors and those who are far more mature in our lives and around us is good.

It is needed if they are like Paul. I have said this before we all need spiritual heroes. I use that word on purpose. Personally I believe our heroes need to be those who have lived their lives and they are dead. And I say that because time and history have proven them to be worthy of being our heroes. One of my spiritual heroes is a missionary named Frank Drown. Frank Drown is already passed away. He was a missionary to the Indians in Ecuador. Some people know who Frank Drown was because he was really a mentor to Jim Elliot and some of those more famous guys who went down there and died. They were martyrs.

Frank Drown is a hero of mine because he did missions work right. He went into an indigenous area and he and some others were successful in evangelizing many of the Indians there and their goal from the beginning was to start churches not just evangelize and to have healthy churches come out of their missions work. And he is one of my heroes because he did it right. He's lived. He's died. He's been proven by time and history. But we all need spiritual mentors. And I believe our mentors need to be people we can connect with. You really can't have a mentor unless you can connect with them.

Preferably we need someone who is a mentor who is in our church. You see because we need mentors that we can connect with on a weekly basis, a daily basis, a regular basis. Mentors that we can watch and see and feel and touch and they can be a part of our lives. And then we all need to grow in our spiritual maturity so that one day we can be spiritual mentors. That should go on in our church often. As our church grows and matures and our small groups grow and mature we will see mentoring relationships develop. I'm thankful. I'm thankful that Annie has mentors in our church. She will go spend time with certain mature ladies in our church.

I think back to my relationship with Keith. Many of you know that God used me to help bring him to faith in Christ and I mentored him and spent lots of time with him. And he would tell you that God used me that way in his life. And it is also my responsibility to mentor other men in our church. And I specifically try to do that. But notice Paul's accuracy in his dissatisfaction. In verse 12 in the original Paul uses the word already two times. The New American reads it to me in a better way. The New American says not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect. You hear the redundancy? He says already twice.

It reads like that in the original. He says not that already not that I have already obtained it the goal or have already become perfect. And what Paul was saying was this. The goal is out there. Perfection in Christ as seen in Christ is the goal. But I have not already obtained it. I have not already become perfect. You hear him repeating himself? Simply Paul was expressing his great dissatisfaction. He had not already reached the goal of perfection in Christ as seen in Christ. He had a very accurate perspective on his spiritual, situational awareness. And my question for us is this. Really several questions.

Are we satisfied or dissatisfied with our spiritual walk, our progress and our maturity? Do we see accurately where we are in our spiritual progress and maturity? Can we say already know where I am spiritually? I know. Do you see that Paul knew where he was? Now for us we would say Paul you're crazy. I mean you're dissatisfied? So are we like Paul? Can we say I know where I am? And do we desire to grow? Do we desire to progress and make progress and mature more and more and more even to the point where we're yearning for spiritual perfection? Notice this is a goal we can never reach on earth.

Last Sunday, the Lord's Day from Matthew 6.25 we saw that we need God to change our perspective. It's having a conversation with one of the men of the church this week about that perspective change. We learned that life is more important than food and water and clothing. We need a perspective change there. And here in this teaching we need a different perspective change. We need to quit comparing ourselves to others in some sort of a man made standard. And we need to make sure that if we do compare ourselves to others they are Paul like.

But mostly preeminently we need to compare ourselves to the standard of perfection seen in Christ and in his life. And instead of being satisfied with our spiritual walk, our spiritual goals, our spiritual maturity, we need to be dissatisfied with our spiritual walk. Dissatisfied with our goals and our maturity. We need a proper perspective. So to press on for the price we must have a proper perspective that is needed. Now before I move on I want to offer you something. A word of warning here. If you do come to the place of being unsatisfied, when others get close to you and you express that they will misunderstand your dissatisfaction.

They'll say things like this, "Brother, sister, you're one of the most godly people I know." They'll try to squelch your dissatisfaction. If you begin to express that you want more and you hunger for more and you want to be more godly and more holy and have more victory in your personal private life and in your thought life and you want to have more victory in your prayer life, you want to be more disciplined. If you begin to express that kind of a dissatisfaction some will even try to correct you and say that's an unhealthy view. I know that there are times in my life when I have been in times of terrible dissatisfaction.

I'm praying, I'm seeking God, I'm walking with God, I'm not in sin and I have expressed that and others have really just tried to correct me. But go back to Paul. He is our example. So number two, a strong striving. We see this in the second part of verse 12. "To press on for the prize a strong striving is needed." Now the second part of the verse is crucial. It was not enough for Paul to have the right perspective. The right perspective had to be tied to the right action. James tells us that faith without works is a dead faith. I want to borrow that to say that a proper perspective without the proper action is a dead perspective.

Let me say that again. The right perspective has got to be tied to the right action. James tells us that faith without works is dead. Now I'm borrowing that and I'm saying that a proper perspective without a proper action is a dead perspective. Now an earthly example that might help you a little. I know that I need to lose 12 or 15 pounds. Not just so I can get into some clothes that I've got hanging in the closet. I know that my numbers will be a little bit better if I'm exercising. And at times I like to run for exercise. That's what I like. The last time I ran was the late summer of 2022 in August. So that's been a year and a half.

So I have the proper perspective. I am dissatisfied. I need to lose 12 or 15 pounds and I need to be healthier. I know I need to run for those reasons and others. I even have my good running shoes put away. I have my running clothes put away. But I take no action. So my perspective is dead. Well here we see that Paul puts his proper perspective with proper action and he says that he did two things. First he pressed on. This term I press on it means to run it means to flee swiftly aggressively even with great energy. And here Paul was running from something and he was running to something. He was running to the goal to the price at hand.

I like what the scholar A.T. Robertson says here he says Paul was not discouraged. Think about that. He was not discouraged. He was nowhere near where he wanted to be spiritually but he was not discouraged. It was quite the opposite. He was encouraged. You see this type of discouragement is all tied to encouragement. Robertson also says that Paul kept up the chase. I like that. It helps me. Think about a couple of examples. A golfer is always chasing after or pressing on for a better score. Isn't that right? A fisherman is always chasing after or pressing on for a bigger fish or more fish.

A deer hunter is always chasing after and pressing on for a bigger buck. This year I had a couple of goals in my deer hunting. We changed some property so I'm not seeing quite as many deer and I've let some smaller deer go. I've got a couple that I'm chasing after that I'm pressing on. I might not get them. Chances are I won't. So Paul was not discouraged. He was encouraged and he was pressing on and he was chasing after the goal and the prize at hand. We see the same word and the same expectation in 1 Timothy 6.11.

Paul says to young Timothy, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things," now there's a list previously, "and pursue," same word, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness, "pursue, run after those things aggressively." And then second, he, this is Paul, pressed on to lay a hold of. In the original Paul uses a phrase, "I may lay hold." The New American Standard and the Legacy Standard Bible translated, "I may lay hold." The English Standard says, "to make my own." I don't like that as much. The King James I like it says, "I may apprehend." And the meaning of this term is obvious. It means to lay a hold of.

It means to seize. It means to obtain. It means to make something one's own. So Paul was pressing on, he was running with great energy to lay a hold of something so as to take possession of something so as to apprehend it. But notice how Paul finishes the verse. Look at verse 12. I'm going to read it from the New American Standard. It is clearer, the second part of the verse. "But I press on, in order that I may lay hold of," notice, "that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." Now that part is odd, the second part. What does that mean? He was running to lay a hold that which he was laid hold of by Christ.

That's a tongue twister. That's odd. What does that mean? John MacArthur explains and sums this up beautifully. I can't say it any better. He says, and I'm quoting, "Paul was running spiritually to catch the very thing for which Christ Jesus had come after him." In other words, Paul's goal in life was consistent with Christ's goal in saving him. Well, what was this goal? What was Christ's goal in laying a hold to Paul? "For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined," for what? "To be conformed to the image of his son," Romans 8.29. Simply Paul was pressing on to obtain perfection in Christ as seen in Christ.

He was pressing on to apprehend that which Christ had apprehended him for, which was perfection in Christ as seen in Christ, or to be conformed to the image of Christ. And here we must ask, what are our goals? Think about goals that you may have in life. Sometimes people have a goal to have a family. Sometimes people will have a goal to have a healthy, godly family. Sometimes people will have a goal to have a good job where they can provide for their family. Sometimes people will have goals where they want to share the gospel with the lost.

People will have goals where they will want to be active and useful in the church and use their gifts and their spiritual gifts in service. Think about your goals. Maybe you have a top three, four, five. Think about your goals. Chances are your goals are good, but our number one goal should be to apprehend that which--but our number one goal should be to apprehend that for which Christ apprehended us. He apprehended us so as to conform us into His image. He apprehended us so that we would run and run and run and run so as to lay a hold of perfection is Christ as seen in Christ. So how are we running?

Are we running towards the correct prize and goal? So we see a strong striving. Now before we get into verses 13 and 14, the rest of the verses, we must see how verse 12 and what Paul is saying here destroys a very popular view of the Christian life. Actually this is going to be the conclusion of the message. We're going to cover verses 13 to 16 next week into part two. Now I have in my notes maybe because I might not be able to cover that next week into part two. But I'm doing this because this is so important. Now listen close, this is much needed.

There is an attitude, a fault, and an approach to the Christian life that is so prevalent today that we need to be on guard against. This is how you'll hear people say it. "Well I just let go and let God." You ever heard somebody say that? "I just let go and I let God." Sometimes people will say, "Well you know I get in the passenger seat and I let God drive." If someone is real super spiritual in that mindset they'll say, "Well I get in the back seat." No I get in the trunk and I just let God drive.

Look those expressions and similar expressions speak of an erroneous approach to the Christian life that falls under the umbrella of passive sanctification. Notice with just one verse, verse 12, Paul obliterates any view which falls under the umbrella of passive sanctification. In verse 12 was Paul saying, "Well I just let go and let God." No, probably the most mature, the most successful Christian who ever lived. And what is he saying? "I am dissatisfied. I am running and running and running and running, running for a goal that I can never achieve.

Perfection is seen in Christ and from Christ." One verse obliterates any view of some kind of a passive sanctification. And we can see very clearly here that Paul is not interested in that kind of a view. Listen to what Paul says here in verse 12 again. I'm going to read it in the Amplified. Paul says, "Not that I have already obtained it, this goal of being Christlike or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that perfection for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own." MacArthur points out other times where Paul destroys this faulty way of looking at the Christian life.

And in these verses we can see just how hard Paul worked for his personal sanctification. In Colossians 1.29 MacArthur points out that Paul described the Christian life as labor and striving. That verse reads, "For this Ahtoil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me." He points out that Paul called the Christian life a good fight of faith. In 1 Timothy 6.12 and 2 Timothy 4.7.

In 1 Timothy 6.12 Paul commands Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." He points out that in Acts 14.22 Paul said that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. He points out that Paul repeated many times the inevitability of suffering in the Christian life like in Romans 8.17, in 1 Thessalonians 3.4, in 2 Timothy 1.8, in 1 Timothy 3.12. So Paul did not have any view of just standing back, letting go, and letting God. You see?

And look, this kind of a mindset about the Christian life, it's everywhere on social media. Look folks, please don't get any of your theology from social media. Please don't. It's everywhere. We hear it in so called Christian music. That can be one of the most dangerous things to listen to. I really can't listen to Christian radio. Most of the time I listen to talk radio. Occasionally I'll catch some good things on Christian radio. I mean lately I've called old Adrian Rogers preaching on the radio. I thought he was dead. He sure preaches on the radio today. We see this kind of a faulty view in many professing Christians.

You hear it all the time. Be on guard. Take a warning here. Because that kind of stuff can really affect our thinking more than we know. So the point of all this teaching is that Paul is our example. Paul had a proper perspective concerning his Christian life. He knew he had not attained the perfections of Christ, seen in Christ in his life. And he put that proper perspective to work with a strong striving after Christ and the perfections of Christ in his life. He did all of these things to apprehend that for which Christ apprehended him. And remember he was dissatisfied yes but encouraged greatly. So Paul's example pressing on for the prize.

And again we'll jump into verses 13 and 16 next week.