In our present state we are not yet perfected. There is a constant need for continuing in growth. There is a need to “press” or to make an effort to move forward, yet our Flesh tends to resist this – preferring to settle down or live in the past with old ways of thinking and living. Even after we are in Christ there are old patterns of thinking and living that must change. Our “Great Commission” is to make everything in our lives serve Christ.
This is also called the process of sanctification and it is depicted in the Law in Israel’s conquest of Canaan. Even though the Promised Land belonged to them, the Israelites still had to go to war and drive out the Canaanites – a work they never completed. Because they did not complete this work the people of the land became thorns in the side of the people of Israel and snares for their feet. In the same way the believer in Christ must go to war and drive out the old ways of thinking and living. If we refuse to do this then the old life will continue to be a thorn in our side and will lead us to disobey and displease the Lord. Continuing to grow, to move forward and take all of our inheritance in Christ, is not an optional activity for the child of God.
There is a great need for focus toward a singular goal. There is great weakness in being scattered and fragmented. Most people are dominated by the things of this world and never rise higher in their thoughts, goals, or affections.
Paul is an example to us of what is possible for a person who is completely sold out. There is no special class of Christian who is completely devoted while everyone else can remain half-hearted. Paul is describing a mature view of the Christian life.
In Christ there is a constant renewal and progression. There is always something new to see and to do. We do not have to stay where we are or be what we were. We can change. Life in Christ is dynamic and living in contrast to the dead routine of religion. Life in Christ is salvation from the hopelessness of a life in this world that is cursed and frustrating. What we gain in Christ is much better than what we leave behind.
I. The Goal of the Christian Life
The key phrase in our text is to “press on” or “straining forward.” This denotes some kind of passionate and strenuous effort being exerted. Paul makes it very clear here that there is something up ahead toward which he is pressing and straining so that he might reach it.
The Apostle Paul was perhaps the greatest Christian to ever live. We could make a very good case that Paul did more and saw more than any other Christian, including all of the other Apostles of the Lord. In light of this fact, it may seem strange for a man like Paul to talk as if there was something he has not yet attained.
So Paul, in spite of everything that he had done and everything that he had seen, still had to keep pressing on and straining toward a goal that he had not yet realized. It is logical to conclude from Paul’s own words that no matter what we might see or do there is still something up ahead that we have not obtained and for which we are to be constantly pressing and straining to reach.
And we know that if a Christian as great as the Apostle Paul had this attitude, then the rest of us ought to think the same way. If there was still more for Paul to obtain then there is certainly more for us to be pressing and straining forward to attain.
Paul becomes a model for all of us to imitate. Not that we will have the same role or place in the Body of Christ. We are not apostles. But this is not about Paul’s Apostolic ministry here. This is about something Paul was aggressively pursuing that is common to all believers in Christ.
1. The Glory of the Resurrection Body
What is it that Paul had not already attained? The goal toward which Paul is pressing and straining is the glory of the resurrection. Christ has been raised from the dead, and His resurrection is a preview of what is to come in the future. Jesus is the first man to rise from the dead, never to die again. But Jesus is not the last man to be resurrected. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees a resurrection for all the dead – some of whom will enter into eternal joy, while others will enter into eternal condemnation (See John 5.25-29).
Paul’s ultimate goal is to be like Jesus in every way – including experiencing this same resurrection and having a glorified body that is like the Lord’s. For Paul this resurrection was the ultimate goal of his faith in Christ. This is what made Paul do everything that he did. You might say that it was the hope of the resurrection that motivated Paul and kept him going, even in the midst of suffering. Paul’s mission, which He received directly from the Lord, was to preach that Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel (See 2 Tim. 1.10)!
The hope of the believer is the resurrection and the redemption of the body, which will complete our conformity to the image of Christ (See Rom 8.23-25; 28-31). God’s purpose is to make us like His Son. The only part of us that is not yet redeemed is the body.
God must redeem our bodies because He is also going to redeem all of creation and create a new heavens and earth (See Rev. 21.1, 5).
2. A Glory Worth Pursuing
Paul tells us what he is looking forward to and also what he had left behind. Paul let go of everything in his former life as a Pharisee in order to gain Christ. In the same way Christians cannot take confidence in the Flesh. Paul had every reason, from a human point of view, to have confidence in his Jewish heritage and his strict observance of the Law.
But when Paul met Jesus these things no longer had the value they once held in Paul’s mind. Paul did not have an immoral past. Paul was a religious zealot who thought it was even necessary to persecute Christians. But Paul had to face the fact that he was wrong and that all of his religiosity was worthless when compared to the righteousness of Christ. So Paul completely divorced his former life and never looked back. Paul was pursuing a higher calling and he would not allow his past life to distract him from this new revelation in Christ.
The contrast to this way of thinking are those whose minds are only on earthly things and whose god is their appetite. The believer’s goal is something higher. Paul is warning us to look out for false teachers who glory in the Flesh and have their minds on earthly goals. In contrast, the believer in Christ is to set his or her affections on things above (See Col. 3.1-4). Believers are warned not to get caught up in earthly pursuits (See Matt. 6.19-34, 13.22, 1 Jn. 2.15-17). Paul had left behind his former life when he received a higher revelation and calling from heaven. Likewise, the believer in Christ is to forsake everything else to pursue Christ.
3. Remove the Obstacles to Growth
So in this passage Paul is telling the Philippians what motivates his life and ministry. Paul is pursuing the glory of the resurrection and to be conformed to the image of Christ. To pursue this heavenly calling Paul had forsaken everything in his former life. Paul is baring his soul to the Philippian believers.
Paul could not talk this way to all of his Churches. The carnal Corinthians were not able to receive this kind of word. Paul had to spend all of his time correcting the Corinthians, but not the Philippians. This shows us that when there is carnality and ignorance in the church, and when time must be taken to remedy these conditions, this situation makes spiritual growth and progress impossible. The Philippians were able to move forward and Paul is showing them how. The Corinthians were carnal and not able to move forward until these issues were exposed and addressed. There are some people and some churches who are not growing because they cannot grow! We should all be very concerned about those issues in our own lives and in the life of the fellowship of the church that can keep us from making further progress toward the ultimate goal of becoming like Christ.
You will notice that there is nothing like what Paul said to the Philippians said to people under the Law. Law of any kind is mostly corrective. Correction should not be confused with actual, spiritual growth. Law can prepare us for spiritual growth, but we cannot grow under a principle of Law.
This is why many people make a great mistake when studying certain parts of the Bible, such as the wisdom of Solomon. A Christian cannot grow toward Christlikeness by studying Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. The wisdom of Solomon prepares us for the wisdom of the Gospel.
Someone greater than Solomon has come! So there are things that prepare us for real spiritual growth and then there is being in a position to actually make progress in the Christian life. Preparing to grow should not be mistaken for actual growth toward Christlikeness.
II. The Beginning of a New Life
Paul’s great objective was to become like Jesus. This process of change into the image of Christ, which would culminate in the glory of the resurrection of the body, was the central preoccupation of Paul’s life and was the motivating factor for everything he did.
In saying these things Paul is not giving a summation of his apostolic role. He is not giving what is merely a private goal or something that is the goal of the spiritually elite.
1. The Lord Pursued Us
It is important that we notice that Paul did not begin this pursuit of Christ by a choice of his own. Paul had been a Pharisee. He was a persecutor of the Church until Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road. To say that Paul’s life changed at this point would be an understatement of the case. In other words, the great pursuit of Paul’s life was actually the result of Christ’s pursuit of Paul. Saul of Tarsus had been on his way to the city of Damascus to arrest Christians. But Jesus had actually arrested Saul! And so because Jesus had pursued and apprehended Paul, Paul’s new mission in life was to pursue and to apprehend Christ.
Now we are not apostles and Jesus did not appear to us as He did to Saul of Tarsus. But what was true of Paul particularly is also true of all Christians generally: we are now pursuing the One who pursued and apprehended us.
And this point comes out in all of Paul’s theology – that God is the great initiator of salvation. We did not love God, but He loved us. We were not seeking God, but God came in the person of Jesus Christ to seek and to save the lost. Unless God had intervened in our lives we would remain ignorant of Him and His will. But now that Christ has apprehended us, it becomes our goal to pursue Him.
2. The Lord Called Us
I will admit that the Apostle Paul is a special case. Jesus was going to make Saul of Tarsus the Apostle to the Gentiles. So Paul was a unique calling as an Apostle of Christ. That is why Jesus appeared to Saul on the Damascus road. But Jesus was also calling Saul of Tarsus to salvation. The call to salvation came first, and then the call for Saul to serve as an Apostle. In several places in his epistles Paul mentions his calling as an Apostle. But that is not what Paul is doing in our text in Philippians. Paul is writing here about the call to salvation, which always precedes a call to service. I am making this distinction between a call for salvation and a call for service so that we will not overlook this passage as if it were something only for someone called to be an Apostle and therefore not applicable to us. That would be a mistake.
God issues a call to those He saves. This call, which comes to us through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, is one of the links in what some have called the golden chain of salvation. Paul writes about this in Romans: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
Notice that the initiative is the Lord’s. He began working for us even before we were born and could make our own choice. If the Lord had not made the first move we would still be in our sins.
Our affections are naturally tied to the earth and to pleasing ourselves rather than seeking God. We began seeking God only because He was seeking us. We heard His call.
3. Our Response
This call to salvation is only the beginning of a new life. When Saul of Tarsus met Jesus there was a new path for Saul to begin to follow. Saul’s days as a Pharisee were ended. The Apostle Paul’s ambition was to pursue Christ and to be like Him in every way. Part of Paul’s pursuit of Christ was his mission to preach Christ to the Gentiles. But Paul’s ministry was not the ultimate goal of his life. The ultimate goal for Paul was to be conformed to the image of Christ and to experience the glory of the resurrection. Everything else in Paul’s life, including his special calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, was subservient to this higher calling and destiny. And this was exactly what Paul wanted for the Philippians. Paul wants other believers to think like this.
The ultimate goal is to be like Christ and share in the glory of the resurrection. Everything else in your life must become integrated with this ultimate goal. This is really another perspective of our sanctification. God continues to work in those He saves to sanctify them completely and bring them to maturity in Christ. Paul is supremely confident in the work of God in the lives of believers. God can show us those areas of our lives that need attention and further growth.
This assumes that we are God-centered and pursuing Christ, that we have been severed from self-interest, worldly pleasures and competing influences. Notice that doing all of these things is only preparation for spiritual growth and maturity and are not in themselves a sign of progress in the Christian life. We should not continue to think of sanctification only in a negative sense.
On the other hand, if we don’t do certain things first we will never be able to make any progress toward the goal. Maturity is a dynamic and not a static state for the believer in Christ.
The mature believer is one who has rid himself of all other competing influences and is therefore making progress toward the goal of Christlikeness – the completion of this process culminating in the glory of the resurrection. Unfortunately, there are more and more things that can distract us from this goal. We live in a selfish, man-centered generation where God and spiritual things are not considered as being of first importance. There is very little connection between faith, spirituality, and life-change. People can claim to be religious or spiritual and yet live as if that makes no difference in their lives. And so most religious people are usually no different from the surrounding culture in which we live. Until this situation changes there can be no progress.
III. The Power to Press On
We must be given a reason to cut loose from the world around us. Our hearts will become attached to something because it is not possible for us not to have desires. We were created with certain desires. Sin twists those desires and prostitutes them with unworthy objects.
Originally we were made to desire God. An automobile is made to run on gasoline. Humanity was made to work in fellowship with God and all of our trouble can be traced to our alienation from God. As Augustine said in his Confessions: “Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are every restless until we find rest in thee.”
1. No Power in Law
But if we are told to cut our affections for certain things and those affections are not offered a new and more worthy object, then we will be most miserable. This is why most preaching against sin lacks power to actually change people. Simply preaching against sin and informing people about their need for holiness cannot actually make anyone forsake their sin or become holy. Even preaching about the horrors of Hell will only leave people in despair unless there is something else offered that can give hope. There will never be any hope and power to change unless we are told about the purpose of God and the objective of salvation.
Many people today want to change and recognize their need for change. But they can’t make it happen and they need some power. The power to change our lives is not inherent in our nature, no matter what the psychological and self-help movements believe. The Bible teaches us that humans are slaves to their own appetites and cannot rise above their natural affections. We cannot by our own efforts or a sheer act of the will change what we are by nature, anymore than a man can change the color of his own skin or a leopard the pattern of his spotted coat (Jer. 13.23).
There is still a great need for people to be convicted of sin. This is the great ministry of the Law of Moses (See Rom 3.19-20). Yet the Law of Moses offers no remedy for sin. Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin, but new life does not come by the Law.
We must preach the Law in order to bring the knowledge of sin, but after we have preached the Law we must preach something else that promises a remedy for sin. We must preach the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1.16)!
2. Beholding the Glory of Christ
The Gospel calls us to a higher life, a greater purpose, and an objective more glorious than anything this world has to offer. Solomon has already perfectly described life in this world as a vicious cycle of vanity and frustration. God cursed this world so that He could remake it!
So the Gospel is not primarily about life in this world. Even if you could gain the whole world you would eventually have to die and give it all up. Job knew the truth that we came into the world naked and we will depart in the same way! Someone once said that it is really pointless to dress a corpse in a suit with pockets! The Health and Wealth Gospel preachers are doing people much harm by telling them that God’s main objective is to bless them in this world. That is a cruel message to preach for the simple reason that life in this world is temporal. Most people fail to think about the transitory and fleeting nature of life in this world. But the Gospel offers hope for the future beyond this life and this world.
And so the Gospel also gives us a new goal in this life: your new goal in this world is to prepare for the world that is to come, which is actually the real world.
It is ironic that most people consider this world that is passing away to be the real world and the world to come, which is eternal, is just so much pie in the sky! How wrong this kind of thinking is! The world that we see can easily dominate our attention and affections because it seems to be the only real world. The New Creation has not come into view yet.
We cannot see the world to come, but we can see Jesus, who is the harbinger and firstborn of that New Creation (See Heb. 2.5-9)! The Gospel shows us the glory of Christ, which changes us as we behold Him (2 Cor. 3.18). So our greatest need is to look, to gaze steadily, at the glory of Christ.
Christ’s presence in heaven is to give us access to spiritual blessings there even now. We are raised with Him and seated there even now (Eph. 2.6).
So, believing the Gospel is much more than just the forgiveness of sins. The Gospel has an objective – the New Creation – and we must be headed toward that goal. If the Gospel has not changed our lives, the way we live, then it is doubtful that we have understood and believed the true Gospel. The Gospel will motivate us and enable us to cut loose of this present, evil world in our affections. The way to overcome sin is not through law but by seeing the glory of the New Creation that is ahead.
3. Our Hope is in the Resurrection of Christ
Our hope is based on the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ points toward the New Creation. Jesus is the only man to have been resurrected from the dead, but He is not the last man who will be so resurrected!
In our text in Philippians Paul is speaking of his personal ambition to experience that resurrection of the dead that will happen when Jesus comes again. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul speaks of this resurrection in a doctrinal rather than a personal form:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).
In other words, as Jesus is, so shall we become. This is the goal toward which Paul was pressing and it is the goal of every believer in Christ. When we see it like Paul saw it, we will also be straining toward it with every fiber of our being!
This hope of the resurrection is the reason why we were saved in the first place. We were redeemed so that we can one day have a redeemed body (See 2 Cor 5.1-5).
We are being prepared for this now as we learn to walk in the Spirit and put to death the desires and deeds of the Flesh. As we put off the domination of the desire of this earthly body, we are anticipating the glory of the new body which will be free from all of these old hindrances. We will enter into a glorious freedom to do and be all that we were created for in Christ!
There is no way to express the glory of that freedom we will experience at the resurrection, and obtaining that glory is worth any price we have to pay in this world.
Christ’s resurrection is a glimpse of what God will also do for all those in Christ. He will transform our lowly bodies and bring in the New Creation.
Conclusion
But in the meantime, as we are still in the flesh and in the earth, we should remove every obstacle in our way preventing our growth into the image of Christ. We are preparing for glory and for eternity and this must dominate our thinking. We should remember that Christlikeness is the goal, not just knowledge of facts. There is a big difference between knowing certain facts about Christ and the Bible and actually becoming conformed to the image of Christ, which was Paul’s great desire and goal. Our character and living must change. We should be making progress and we should be more like Jesus now than we were earlier. People should be able to see something is different about us. It is wrong for people to claim to be Christians but be nothing like Christ and to just go on looking like everyone else out there in the world.
When we gather together we are to help one another become more like Christ. Our focus is always to be forward, making progress toward the future goal of salvation. We cannot get wrapped up in the here and now. The world around us will continue to scream for and demand our undivided attention. But our attention must not become divided. Our full attention must be on our glorious calling in Christ. Does that mean we ignore the world around us, as if we are starry-eyed mystics? No. We will be better able and more wise in our dealings with the earth if we are focused on the higher things of the coming Kingdom of God. Did not Jesus say “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you?”
No comments:
Post a Comment