Spiritual maturity; Phil. 3:15-21

The other day my wife and I got to see our grandchild for a little bit after not having seen him for almost a week. And it was amazing to see how much he seemed to have changed in just a few days time. He’s standing up on his own now, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until he’s walking.  It’s almost sad to see how quickly he’s growing and maturing. But I know that even though his parents love him as he is now in this infant stage, they are constantly encouraging him to grow, to take the next step, to speak words, and so forth. Because no parent wants their child to stay an infant forever.  Growing up is a normal part of physical, emotional and mental development that we all recognize is desirable for our children.

And just as it is normal to expect physical maturity, so it also should be in our spiritual lives.  God as our heavenly Father wants us to grow in spiritual maturity. And this is what this passage we are looking at today in Philippians is talking about. It’s talking about spiritual maturity.  We are going to see four aspects of maturity:  the goal of maturity, the standard of maturity, the examples of maturity and finally the state of maturity.   

First of all then the goal of maturity. Let’s remind ourselves of the context of this passage, and to do that we need to go back to verses 13 and 14.  Paul is talking about spiritual maturity, spiritual completion, and he says, “one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, Paul is saying that  we should be reaching forward, pressing on, striving for the goal of spiritual maturity.  Even though we are saved, even though we are practically being sanctified by our obedience to the Holy Spirit working in us, yet our perfection, our completion, our ultimate maturity will come about when we are called up, when this mortal shall put on immortality, and this body will be changed incorruptible. 

So this means that our goal once we are saved is to become mature. 2 Corinthians 3:18 states that this is our goal. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”  As we look in the mirror of God’s word, we are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.  This is the goal of a Christian.  We are born again – we become an infant in this new life- and then we begin the process of spiritual growth, which is called sanctification.  And that simply means we become like Christ. Our lives become a reflection of Jesus Christ, just as our children become a reflection of us as parents, of our values, of their upbringing, even to the point of looking and talking like us. 

Some time ago, I was sitting on a porch and caught a reflection of myself in the window, and I was shocked how much I looked like my mother.  I always thought I looked more like my dad.  But I realized I look like both of them.  I am a reflection of my parents.  And so it is supposed to be in our spiritual life. We should look like our spiritual parents.  This process of growing up, of being obedient to what God teaches me, should result in me looking and acting more and more like Jesus Christ, who is the exact reflection of God.

Rom 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”  Becoming conformed to the image of Christ should be the single most important goal of our life.  Nothing else is as important.  God fixing all my stuff is not as important.  God attending to all my needs is not the purpose of my salvation.  God making it possible for me to have what I may think makes for a successful life here and now on this earth is not the purpose that Jesus died on the cross.  But He came so that I might be made righteous, so that fellowship with God was possible for us, and to do that He transfers the righteousness of Jesus to us, and transfers our sins onto the cross, and we become followers of Jesus, and become like Him, remade in His image, as man was originally intended to be at creation.

So first our purpose, our goal, is to be like Christ.  And verse 14 says though we are pressing on toward that goal, it will be completed when Jesus comes back.  Now look at vs. 15 and 16 and let’s see what is  the standard of our maturity. “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect,(there is that word again which means complete, mature)  have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you;  however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”  The standard then is to continue striving for the perfection that is Christ.  

Now Paul just got finished saying he hasn’t obtained complete maturity yet, but the implication here is that there should be an ongoing process of maturity that happens in the life of a believer.  And what he is saying here is that maturity should be your aspiration, yet at the same time there needs to be a recognition that we all that are saved are a work in progress that will not see final completion until Jesus comes back.  But that should not deter us from pressing on to maturity.  Far from it.  It should motivate us to become mature. That’s why Hebrews 6:1 says, “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.” Maturity is synonymous with becoming conformed to the image of Christ.  Jesus Christ is our standard of maturity.  We don’t measure ourselves by ourselves or even by our neighbor, but our standard is Christ.  Being like Him is what we are striving for.

But at the same time, implicit in this standard should also be an understanding that none of us are at the same spiritual level of maturity.  It would be an extremely rare thing if I found any of you exactly the same age and with the same birthday as another person.  And spiritually, the same principle applies.  We all should be pressing on to maturity, we should all be aspiring to spiritual maturity, to be conformed to the image of Christ, but as Paul says, we haven’t all arrived yet, nor are we all at the same level of maturity.  So we need to be understanding of one another, and remain teachable. 

For instance, as we become mature, according to vs. 15, we acknowledge that while we may have grown to a certain understanding of certain doctrines or interpretations, that there are other people who also are saved, who are growing in maturity, that may not have yet come to the same understanding of certain more advanced doctrines.  And so for the sake of unity, for the sake of the fellowship we are to have within the church, we do not break fellowship over  non essential doctrines.  Rather, we make the plain things the main things. 

However, that being said, as a local, independent body of believers, as the local church, and as the pastor of such church, I have to come down on one side or another in terms of church doctrine on many of these issues.  I have to take a position.  I will teach my position as I come upon such issues in scripture.  However, I don’t intend to camp out on them.   I will not make peripheral doctrines the capstone or cornerstone of this ministry, to the extent that if you don’t ascribe exactly to every doctrine in just the same way that I do on every subject you can’t have fellowship with us.  But at the same time, for the sake of unity within the body, we must have an understanding that this church does have a position on those non foundational doctrines and if necessary, we can agree to disagree for the sake of unity and for the sake of the progress of the gospel.  

For instance, take eschatology, which is the study of end time prophecy, there are various views that are held by many people that differ on  whether Christ will return before the tribulation, or sometime in the middle, or at the end.  And there are many well learned commentators that differ in their views.  I have my own opinion as well that I have come to after years of studying.  However, the main issue is that Jesus is coming back for His church and to judge the world.  This is clearly presented in Scripture.  But we shouldn’t let the things that are less clear in regards to eschatology become a point of division in the fellowship.  But when I come to such doctrines in scripture I will teach them, I will point out what I think I have learned in my studies, and I would urge you to be like what Paul said about the Bereans, who eagerly listened to the apostle’s teaching and then searched the scriptures to see if those things were so.  But also to remain teachable, yielding to what the Word says and not holding on to viewpoints just because it is the popular or politically correct view.

So in light of that, in light of the fact that as a pastor I am tasked with rightly dividing the Word, let’s look at the next verse, 17 for the examples of maturity. Paul gives both a positive example and a negative example.  First the positive.  “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”  Now this is a heavy responsibility that I think applies to pastors.  It would be much easier if I were to just ascribe this to Paul and not apply it to myself as a pastor of the church.  But I think that Paul is talking about leadership in the church.  I think this is why James tells us that not many of us should become teachers, because we will be judged with a stricter judgment.   And the reason that leadership is so important in the church is that it isn’t just about a hierarchy, it isn’t about an exalted position of authority, it isn’t even just about who is the teacher or preacher, but it is about being an example.  Living  a life that is exemplary before the church. 

Note also that vs. 17 says, “join in following my example”.  The idea expressed here is joining with others in fellowship.  Not out there on your own, following your own reasoning, following your own ideas of what you think Christianity is all about.  But it is important to join in fellowship, following the examples of your leaders. 

But it should go without saying, that in order for you to follow your leaders, your leaders must be followers of Christ.  Paul said in 1Cor. 11:1 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”  The great commission is that we are to go into all the world and make disciples.  I’ve said it before, it’s a lot easier to make converts than it is to make disciples or followers.  Making disciples means that someone is going to follow you around.  Many of us might be good at presenting a witness on our good days, on those times when we feel like it, or are prepared for it, but we’re probably not that comfortable with being followed around and having someone watch us, day in and day out.  But you’re either being an example or an excuse to the people watching you.  Either they see Jesus Christ living through you, or they see an excuse why they don’t need to take the claims of Christianity seriously.

What Paul is saying, is that we are to observe those who are supposed to be spiritual  according to the pattern that we see in Paul and the Apostles.  Their lives backed up what they were teaching.  They were the pattern for what a Christian was supposed to look like and act like.  “Join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”  So Paul and the Apostles were role models for spiritual maturity.  

You know, you can only learn so much through explanation.  There is a certain amount of learning that comes from application.  Take for instance someone training to be a nurse.  They take a lot of courses in a classroom, they memorize a lot of information, but then comes another level of learning which they call practicals.  And that is where they actually begin to do the work, hands on.  They follow other nurses, they work with other nurses in a real hospital situation with actual patients.  And this is the more advanced level of learning, where they follow others and learn from others by doing what they are doing.  Learning by example.  And this is of great importance in the church.

So that’s the positive example, now let’s look at the negative example in vs. 18 and 19: “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,  whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”  Some examples we see in the church are not godly examples, but people who claim Christianity, but live a life that is marked by worldliness.  And these negative examples are a real danger to the young believer especially. 

Sometimes I have spoken in the past of people that have left our fellowship and turned back to the ways of the world.  And though that can be discouraging to me as a pastor, the greater concern is not whatever discouragement it may cause to me, but what damage it causes to the cross of Christ.  I grieve over many of these people that have fallen away.  Some were my close friends.  And like Paul, I have wept over their loss.  Because like Esau they have traded the eternal glory for a pot of stew.  Jesus said in Matt. 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  Paul here makes a broader application than just wealth.  He calls it their appetites.  And Paul says because of their worldly appetites they have become enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their lives have become stumbling blocks to others.  They have become an excuse to others who were looking to them as an example.

Paul says that their end is destruction.  You know, when the devil tempts you to sin, he doesn’t tempt you by telling you that this sin will lead to destruction, does he?  He says a little pleasure won’t hurt you.  A little taste won’t hurt you.  One glass isn’t such a big deal.  It’s just a little bit, it’s just a little thing.  I know of a guy that was a recovering  addict that was doing really well, he had been sober for a couple of years, was a music leader in his church, and then one day he decided he could have a couple of beers.  And the couple of beers led to a little more, and then a little more, and now he has fallen back into addiction again and eventual destruction.  Our appetites are the path to destruction and the devil knows just how to get us to go right back again and again.

But don’t say “Well, I’m not an addict, so therefore this doesn’t apply to me.” These people that are enemies of Christ are described as people whose God isn’t Christ, but whose god is their appetite.  Their appetite is not for the things of God – for the maturity that comes from being conformed to the image and the death of Christ.  They are not living for God, but for themselves and to fulfill their needs, and to exalt themselves, to satisfy their worldly desires. 

Oh, some of them go to church every Sunday.  They claim to be to be Christians.  And yet their lives don’t bear the fruit of godliness.  Their lives are marked by worldliness.  But grace is not a license to sin.  God didn’t die on the cross so you could have your cake and eat it too.  So you could get a “get out of hell card” and still live it up here on earth.  Christ died so that you might become like Him.  So that you might follow in His footsteps - that you might live righteously, godly, and above reproach.

“Whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame.” These people glory in things that they should be ashamed of.  You know, the culture of this world today is characterized by things that would have been considered shameful to even speak of 50 years ago.  We’re not more enlightened today.  Society is just more depraved.  I can’t even hardly watch primetime television anymore.  I can’t even watch some commercials during football games.  I can’t watch a lot of movies without fast forwarding about half of it. I”m not being a prude, I just can’t put that stuff in my mind and not have it affect me.  Paul says, these so called Christians have their minds, their affections set on earthly things, and those things that they glory in they should be ashamed of.

You know, Peter said in 1 Peter 2:5 that we that are saved are being built up as a spiritual house unto God.   That we are to be holy, offering up acceptable sacrifices as priests to God.  And Paul talks about this house in 1 Cor. 3:10, he says as we are building up this house, we better be careful how we build on it.  For starters, we’re building on the foundation of Jesus Christ who by shedding His blood made it possible for us to have this second life.  Secondly, he says, “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day of judgment will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

Listen, what Paul is saying is that if all you’re building is earthly stuff, it’s going to be burned up when the world is burned up with fire.  Wood, hay and straw is worthless, because it won’t survive.  It’s temporal. 2Pet. 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” 

I would ask you to examine yourselves today.  Where is your treasure?  What type of house are you building unto God?  Are you offering up sacrifices that are acceptable to God? Are you offering up first and foremost your lives as Romans 12:1 says, “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Jesus said in Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I hope you are laying up your treasure in heaven.  And that leads us to our last point, the state of our maturity.  Back to our text in Phil. 3:20,21:  “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

The state of our final maturity, the goal of our salvation, the purpose for which God sent Jesus into the world, is to bring us into that citizenship of heaven.  To capture us out of the kingdom of darkness and transfer us into the kingdom of heaven.  We should be like Abraham in Hebrews 11:9, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Listen folks, if you’re really a citizen of heaven, then you’re going to act like it.  You’re going to be an alien here on earth.  You’re going to march to the beat of a different drum.  You are going to be a peculiar people.  You’re going to talk differently than the world.  You’re going to act differently than the world. Because you have been born into a new life, a new existence, a new kingdom, a new citizenship.  Old things have passed away, and all things have become new.  You’re going to be growing into a reflection of Jesus Christ.

And if that is the state of your existence now, then when Jesus comes He is going to change your physical state into final conformity with his image.  “Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” 

1Cor. 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

Phl 3:20-21  “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

This one thing; Phil. 3: 12-14

How many times in your life have you heard yourself saying something to the effect…”if I could just have one thing in life, I would like….”  Or maybe it might be “if I could just do one thing in life, I would…”  And this morning, I would ask you to finish the sentence in your own mind.  If you were granted just one wish, if you could name just one thing and it would come to pass,  what would it be?

I heard a man say once "Just do one thing right in your life and you'll be way ahead of most people."  Having a singular purpose can be a good thing.  My mother used to say I had a one track mind.  The problem was,  it was going in the wrong direction.  But according to the Apostle Paul, there was one thing that he was focused on above all others.  And he tells us this as an example to all those that have been born again, that there is one thing that should be our driving ambition in life.

Last week, we looked at the preceding verses 8-11, and we looked at one thing I know, this week we’re looking at one thing I do.  The one thing I know is the driving impetus for the one thing I do.   And the one thing I know refers to knowing Jesus Christ in an intimate, personal relationship.  Not just knowing the facts about Him, but having received Him as our Savior, we know Him personally, and that knowledge becomes the catalyst for the rest of my life.

One thing I know refers to the surpassing value of that relationship with Christ.  Compared to all that the world has to offer, nothing compares with knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior.  He is the source of real life, He is the light in the darkness, He is the truth and the only way to the Father.  And we can know the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of the universe personally because He knows us.  He knows our names.  He knows our thoughts.  He knows us to the point of numbering the hairs on our head.  And in spite of all our shortcomings, He loves us to the point of dying for us.

Then in verse 9, one thing I know means that I am found in Him as righteous, not by my works, but by the grace of God which was lavished upon me through faith in Christ.  I hope that is clear to each of you folks here today.  No matter what you have done, no matter how far you have fallen, absolute righteousness can be yours simply through faith in what Christ did for us on the cross.  You don’t have to work for it, you don’t have to clean yourself up first.  You simply come in faith to Jesus as your Savior and ask Him for forgiveness, trusting that He is able to provide it, because He paid the penalty for your sins, and as a result of that faith the Bible promises that God will cleanse you of your sins and credit you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  He transfers your sins to Jesus, and Jesus righteousness to you.  I hope that you all have made that transaction by faith.

Then in verse 10, one thing I know means that once you have made that transaction by faith - the exchange of my sins for His righteousness - then we will know the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.  That means that I know that once I was blind but now I see.  Once I was dead in my sins and now I am made alive in Christ.  That’s what it means to know the power of the resurrection.  It’s the power of a new life.   The resurrection symbolizes a new life in Christ, and the fellowship of His sufferings symbolizes taking up our cross and following Christ – dying to the flesh even as Christ suffered and died in the flesh for sin.

And then in vs. 11, one thing I know is the promise of the resurrection from the dead.  The real hope of Christianity is not necessarily a better life now.  That may or may not happen as a result of becoming a Christian, but the real hope is the promise of life beyond the grave.  No matter how great of a life you might think you can have in this world, the truth is by the time you get it together, it’s already coming to an end.  Life is short.  But it was never meant to be this way.  Life the way God created it was eternal.  In the beginning there was no death. God created life.  Sin brought forth death. Rom. 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”  But because God never stopped loving us, He came to earth in the form of a man, as Jesus, and died on the cross as our substitute to pay the penalty for our sin, that we that believe in Him would be saved from death unto life. 

But though we have been given life in the spirit,  this outward body of flesh continues to die. But Rom. 8:10 says that “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”  One day, unless Christ comes back first, they are going to bury this body in the grave.  But I believe that Jesus taught us in the story of Lazarus and the rich man that though our body is in the grave our spirit will be alive and at rest in Paradise awaiting the resurrection. 

 1 Thessalonians gives us the promise of the resurrection of the dead. 1Thess. 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep (asleep means those Christians that have died), so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

So that’s what Paul is talking about when he says, this one thing I know.  He knows Christ - all that Christ represents,  the promises of righteousness and resurrection that are true because of Christ.  And then Paul says, knowing all this, this one thing I do.  The knowledge of Christ is so critical, so important, so life changing, that I am willing to focus all my energy, all my passion, all my resources on just one thing.  Now what is it that Paul says is the one thing we are to do, now that we know Christ?

Look at vs. 12, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

What are we to do?  What was Paul doing now that He had this saving knowledge of Christ, this intimate personal, relationship with Jesus, the Son of God?  The answer is that he pressed on.  He says “I press on” twice, in verses 12 and 14.  And though he doesn’t use those exact words, he describes the idea a third time in verse 13 by saying he is  “reaching forward”.  It’s the same idea as pressing on.

Paul is using the image here of a runner that is running a race as a metaphor for the Christian life.  One thing I do, he says, is I’m going to press on in this race.  I’m going to focus all my strength and all my energy on this one thing, running this race.  The one thing that I know from the previous verses is that this salvation that I am called to is of a surpassing value.  Nothing else in the world compares to it.  Nothing in this world can compare to the glories that God has prepared for us in the next world. 

 

Paul had seen such things, by the way.  In 2 Corinthians 12 he talks about being caught up into the third heaven and seeing things he wasn’t allowed to talk about.  But he did say in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the heart of man cannot even comprehend the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.  And so Paul knows that there is a prize in this race which is greater than anything this world could possibly offer.  It’s worth all of my focus. It’s worth every sacrifice.  And so that one thing I know becomes my impetus, my zeal, my passion for this one thing I do – pressing on in this race I am running.

Now there are certain elements to this pressing on that bear our consideration.  The first one is found in the phrase in vs. 12, “Not that I have already obtained it…”  what is it referring to?  Well, back up a verse.  It’s obviously referring to the resurrection of the dead.  Now that’s such an obvious answer that at first you  might think that it couldn’t be right.  He must be talking about something else, because obviously if he is alive to write this letter he couldn’t be dead enough to be resurrected.  But what he is alluding to here is explained by the rest of the statement, “or have already become perfect.” 

And that word perfect causes a lot of people even more problems.  Because they think of perfection as somehow we are supposed to  become perfect people, without sin, without problems, everything about us is perfect.  But that isn’t the correct understanding of the word.  The word in the Greek is teleioō (te-lā-o'-ō) which means to complete, to accomplish, finish, to bring to an end.  So what we can understand from that then is that Paul is saying there is still an element to his knowing Christ, to his salvation, that is yet to be accomplished, that hasn’t been completed yet.  And that completion will be accomplished at the resurrection.

That completion which comes through the resurrection is talked about in Romans 8:22.  “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

Listen folks, I love this life as much as any of you do.  But I also know that the whole creation, this whole world is under the curse of sin.  Death is a part of this world.  We try to hide from it.  We may try to mask it.  We may even try to glamorize it.  But the sad truth is that this world is corrupted.  People get sick and die.  Things break and grow old.  What joy we have is short lived.  By the time we finally acquire enough money and the right toys and enough wisdom to actually really enjoy life the whole ride is over.  And death swallows up all of our accomplishments.

But knowing Christ gives us hope.  We have the promise of eternal life.  We have the promise that one day God will set all things aright.  God will punish evil and reward good.  God will bring about justice.  And God will do away with death forever. 1Cor. 15:26 says  “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”

Skip down a few verses after that to 1Cor. 15:51 and it says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"   That is the completion, that is the perfection that Paul is talking about, when we receive our glorified body, when our sin nature is taken away, and we become like Jesus, when we see Him face to face, and when we are seated on thrones with Christ.

This is what we were laid hold of for by Christ Jesus in verse 12.  This is why Jesus came to earth, to give us eternal life, that we might have real, abundant life, everlasting life, a life free from sin and the death that comes from sin.  This is why Jesus laid hold of me and I trust He has laid hold of you.  I love that expression, don’t you?  Laid hold of.  It sounds like the kind of  back woods, southern redneck expression I grew up around in NC.  “Be still boy, or I’m a gonna lay hold of you!”  Sounds like something my dad would have said.  But what I really like about it is Paul says in verse 13 that  “I haven’t laid hold of it yet”, but Christ has laid hold of me.  And that is the sum of my assurance of salvation right there. 

It’s like the illustration I’ve used so many times before.  When my children were little I said to them “Hold onto Daddy’s hand when we cross the road.”  And I wanted them to learn to listen to me and obey me and to trust me.  But their assurance of safety wasn’t dependent upon them holding onto my hand.  Their assurance of safety was in the fact that I was holding onto them.  I had them in my hand.  I laid hold of them.  And Christ has laid  hold of me and He isn’t letting me go.  John 10:28 Jesus said, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”  I like that.

Now there is another element of the one thing I do.  And Paul says it’s forgetting what lies behind.  And this is so important folks.   Listen, if you have been born again then God has saved you from your past.  God has delivered you from your past.  You need to get over your past and get on with the future. Churches are full of people who are holding all kinds of grudges, bitterness, baggage and junk from the past and they're paralyzed by it. The recollection of what you were in your former unconverted state shouldn't paralyze you and it shouldn't discourage you. Disappointments and temptations of the past must not depress you. If you’ve fallen or stumbled, you need to get up and brush yourself off and get on with the race. Paul says you shouldn’t be looking backward, but looking forward and pressing onward.

Some of us are guilty of looking backwards at the past like Lot’s wife.  She looked back with longing at the exceedingly sinful city of Sodom and Gomorrah.  And God turned her into a pillar of salt.  Some of you are looking backwards like the Israelites looked back at Egypt after God delivered them from slavery.  You may have once been a slave of alcohol, you may once have been a slave of money, you may once have been a slave of sex or any number of other things that you once were enslaved to.  And you have been looking backwards at some of those things and thinking, “You know, I had a lot of fun back then.  I kind of miss some of my old friends.  I miss some of the old ways.”  The Israelites said, “we miss the leeks and garlic and vegetables that we had in Egypt.”  What fools!  They were willing to swap their future and their freedom for a pot of food.

I pray that none of you are so foolish today that you find yourself looking backwards at what you are supposed to be running away from.  We are in a race folks.  We are running for an inestimable prize.  Don’t be distracted by the baubles, by the pretty lights and dazzling colors of the world.  Keep your eyes fixed on the goal.

1Cor 9:24 says “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

I like that phrase in vs. 13 back in our text again, where Paul says forgetting those things behind, I’m now reaching forward to what lies ahead.  This word for reaching forward is “ep-ek-tā'-no-mī”.  It means to stretch out towards, or to stretch oneself forward.  Have you ever seen that happen in a race?  I did once.  In high school we had this guy on the track team named Dicky.  He was a pretty normal looking kid.  But he was a good athlete.  But the secret to Dicky’s athleticism wasn’t in his strength or his fitness or even his ability, but in his heart.  He had the ability to be able to call upon some inner reserve and do extraordinary things. 

 I remember one time at a track meet and there was this relay race of  four guys where they handed off the baton to the other guy.  And I remember that they put Dicky as the last guy to get the baton. And right from the beginning, our team wasn’t doing all that well.  I think we were in last place as the race got underway.  Finally, they got to the last leg and our guy handed off the baton to Dicky.  And we all started cheering him on from the stands, chanting his name.  And about halfway into that last lap, suddenly something changed in Dicky.  He seemed to stretch out.  His stride lengthened, and his whole body changed as he put everything he had into that last leg.  It was like he shifted into high gear and just moved out.  And one by one he passed up the other competitors and Dicky came first across the finish line.  He was totally spent.  We were going wild in the stands and Dicky could barely stand up. 

Dicky ran with his heart.  He ran beyond his ability by reaching deep down inside himself and finding some sort of reserve.  Listen folks.  If you know the one thing, that is you know Christ Jesus as your personal Savior, then God promises you that He will provide the power within you to do the one thing He requires of us;  to run the race, to press on.  He will give you that inner resource to stretch forward beyond your normal capacity so that you might reach the goal of the upward call of Christ Jesus.  

Listen to   Hebrews 12:1  “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

So the one thing I do is to press on to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  I’m going to discard every hindrance, every sin, every weight, every distraction of this world and run with patience the race that is set before me. The race by the way is a marathon, not a sprint.  It takes patience, endurance, steadfastness.  Secondly, the race takes a continued focus. There are a lot of people who are like the guy who jumped on his horse and rode off madly in all directions, expending a lot of energy and a lot of fury and a lot of action,  but making no real  progress.  

They are like some people that I have known and still know in ministry that haven’t grown in the Lord hardly at all in the ten years or so I have known them.  They say they know the one thing that I know, but they haven’t done the one thing that we are called to do.  They haven’t pursued the upward call of Christ.  They are way too concerned with the  cheap pleasures and tawdry promises of this world than they are with the surpassing value of the future that God has prepared for those that love Him. 

So I will leave you this morning with a couple of questions.  Have you been laid hold of yet by Christ?  This is first and foremost the most important question of your life.  Do you know Him with a personal, intimate knowledge?  Can you say with Paul, this one thing I know, I know the power of a new life in Christ.   I know that I have a righteousness which comes from God on the basis of what Christ has done for me. 

And secondly,  if you know Him, then what are you doing?  What are you doing with your life?  This one thing I do.  What are you known for doing?  If you were to die today, what would they say at your funeral was the one thing that characterized your life?  What is the one thing that you do above all others?  I pray that the one thing I do is to run the race that is set before me, not looking behind, or being distracted, but stretching forward, reaching out for the prize and that I will be found being faithful when Jesus comes back and the trumpet sounds and calls me home.  And I pray that I may find that you will be running right along side of me.  Racing for the finish line.  To finish well, to finish strong.  This one thing I do.  This one thing we do.  Let’s run this race together, encouraging one another, helping one another, but most of all, fixing our eyes on the prize of the upward call of Christ.  It could be any day now.  I want to be found running with all my might when that day comes.  Let’s pray.