is not what's going to keep you
in God's grace. Throughout our lives, however hard we strive,
we will not attain perfection, but we keep pressing on. We don't stop for anything. He
says in verse 13, Brothers, I do not consider myself
yet to have taken hold of it. That is, taken hold of the things
for which Christ had taken hold of him. Now, when we were saved,
actually in eternity, if you want to look at it from that
perspective, God took hold of us in election and Christ took
hold of us in redemption, but also I think Paul is referring
to that time when Christ made himself known. He said, when
Christ took hold of me, he took hold of me for a purpose. And
I have not yet laid hold of that for which Christ laid hold of
me. But this one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead. You see, what's ahead is all
that matters. And that's Christ and being like him. And neither
success nor failure should cause us to get our eyes off the prize. You know, when a fellow's running
a race, if he stumbles and falls, what should he do? Well, he should
get up and keep running. I remember watching that movie,
Chariots of Fire, and one of the, it was about the 1924 Olympics. And this fellow representing
England was on a race and he fell down. I mean, and this was back in
the days of the old cinder tracks, you know, and it's no fun to
fall on those things. And of course, everybody passed him
up and they were like a quarter of a lap past him or whatever,
quite far past him. And the guy got up and won the
race. And it was a remarkable thing to see athletically. Well, that's the attitude we're
to have. We fall down, we get up. Same
thing, we run a good lap, we don't stop and take note of that.
Well, I did pretty good. No. Everything behind, forget
it. Just press on to Christ. I press
on toward the goal to win once again This is just that word,
gain. Now, win isn't bad if you take
it within the context that Paul is using a race to illustrate
the walk of the believer and the life of a believer. But we
aren't racing against others, as though, you know, first one
in gets more than second one in, and if you're too far back
in the pack, you won't get in at all. But he wants to gain that prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Now, we know
that if God had begun a good work in Paul, he was going to
perfect it until the day of Christ. And that may make us think, well,
why strive? Well, we strive because that's
what we want to do. That is, we strive because realizing
that goal is what we want. Seeing that being like Christ
is our desire, we do all we can to be that way even now. And
yet, understanding that we are not that way now, and also understanding
this, the only way we can ever prove that God began a good work
in us is if we indeed persevere. He'll perfect it until the end.
Yet the evidence of that is that we press on. For when people
quit, when they quit pressing on to Christ, it's indicative
that whatever they had before was not born of God. If God works
in us to will and do of his good pleasure, and the work that began,
he continues, then that work began in stirring up our hearts
to pursue Him, to come after Him, and His continuing of that
work is going to make us keep pursuing Him. And so we continue
to pursue Him no matter what happens. Now verse 15, all of
us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if
on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear
to you. Now, he says all of those of
us that are mature, the word there again is actually, it can
be translated perfect. It's one of having fullness,
whatever, you know, reaching the goal. But it carries, you
know, it can have a bit of a relative attitude Concept about it. He's not talking about those
of us who are absolutely perfect and like Christ now because he's
just said nobody's like that But he's just talking about those
of us who have grown in grace He said we should take such a
view of things We should take such a view of things about ourselves
Have we not lived long enough under grace to realize that we're
never going to become what we want to be in this life and and
that we should not let our failures discourage us, nor our successes
distract us." And so he said, let those of
us who've got some experience, let us all have this same view
of things. And then he says, and if on some point you think
differently, who would he be addressing there? The immature. Those who probably, like all
of us, when God first saved us, we thought we were going to just
be on fire for the Lord and we're going to accomplish great things
for God and we'll have this same attitude and feelings all the
time. He said, if on some point you think differently, if you
don't agree with me about there's nothing valuable in our flesh
that's going to make us fail, We will not lay hold of that
for which we were laid hold of in this life. If you don't agree
with me on that, just sit tight. God will make it clear to you.
And he will. It'll become very clear to you.
Verse 16, only let us live up to what we've already attained.
Don't go backwards. Whatever grace God has given you to understand
what this life in Christ is about, don't go backwards on it. Keep
pressing on. Now, join with others in following
my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according
to the pattern we gave you." Now, Paul is saying that they were
to mimic him. Now, mimic him in what? In the things he'd just spoken
about, which would mean us not being discouraged by failures
or distracted by successes and quite frankly not be discouraged
by the failures of others or become distracted by those who
somehow and other seem to be super Christians or whatever,
no. We're not paying attention to us and we don't pay attention
to anybody else so far as this race is concerned. The only two
people that make any difference in this race is ourselves and
Christ. And so he said, there are others
who think like me and act like me in this matter, and join with
them in following the example I have set down. Now, the King
James says, in sample. And I looked up what's the difference
between example and in sample. Of course, we never use the word
in sample. But with the internet, you can
find out anything you want to know just about. And even some
of it's true. But there is a difference. An
example is just think like a sample. In other words, it's not being
set up as a standard. You say, well, I've got lots
of books. You say, give me an example.
Oh, well, I have a tale of two cities. So that's really what
an example is. use it as though it were the
word in-sample. And in-sample is pretty much
out of our lexicon. But the word here in Greek is tupos. We get our word type from it. And it indicated a mark that
was left by continual repetition. And these Marks generally became
to use or to describe a pattern to follow. In other words, if
by striking something over and over you make a mark in something,
what they're saying is, over the years, by repeated practice,
this way of life has been proven to be true. So he's saying, I'm not just
an example of a Christian. I am an example. I am one whose
conduct can be followed. And the word that's translated
there follows, actually it's the word mimic, to mimic. Now, he's already told us he's
not perfect. And therefore, he's not going
to be perfect in this stuff that he's saying to mimic him in.
We always have to use wisdom in these matters. But in the
general aspect of what he's saying, of setting aside the flesh, of
striving for perfection, of pressing on to Christ, in those things,
follow him. Now, in another place, he says,
follow me as I follow Christ. And I think the same meaning
is here. He's not acting as though he
is the top type. For Christ is the perfection
of what we are supposed to be. He is the rule and the law we
follow. But we see it exhibited by others as well. It's always
good, just like children should mimic their parents. So should
we mimic those who are older than us in the faith and who
by patient endurance have proven how to live in grace. He said, verse 18, for as I have
often told you before and now say again even with tears, many
live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction. Their God is their stomach, and
their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. Now, this, he's talking about
a much broader group of people than we might think. That word
that in ours is translated stomach, King James says belly, it referred
to anything in the abdomen. the heart, the stomach. In fact, as I was looking or
studying for this, I found that most often it's a reference to
the womb. It says, for instance, he who
called me from my mother's womb. And so most often this word that's
here translated stomach is translated womb, but it could have been
any liver, kidneys, anything. But it's talking about what's
inside. He said, these people follow their own inward thinking
and way of doing things. And it would be legitimate, I
think, to say here, they follow their own appetites. Now, we have all the same appetites
that the world does. But we also have another appetite,
another set of appetites, spiritual ones. says, these people they
live as enemies of the cross of Christ, their destiny is destruction. These are lost people. They were
in the Church, some of them were still in the Church. And I don't
mean necessarily the Philippian Church but within the Church
of the Lord Jesus. They worshiped with them. They held themselves forth as
believers, but if you knew their heart, you would see that they
were enemies of Christ. And the way they live demonstrates
it because everything they do, they're doing for their own self-interest. They're doing it in fulfillment
of the lusts of the flesh. And their destiny is destruction. You see, those who mind the flesh
and whose mind is on earthly things, and mind kind of means
his way of thinking, such people are destined for destruction. Their God, as I said, is their
appetites. Their glory is their shame. Now,
one commentator, He actually applied this to legalists, and
it certainly can be applied to them. For one of the appetites that's
in all of us by birth is the desire to look good in everyone
else's eyes. And we have the desire to do
worthy things or do things worthy of heavenly blessings. Why? So
that we can boast. That's in us. And it's a natural appetite of
humanity. And so these people, their God
is their own efforts, their own works, their
own attempts at gaining a verdict of not guilty from God, of gaining
His blessings. And their glory is their shame.
The very things that they're boasting about in themselves
is what they should be ashamed of. You say, why is that? Aren't
they doing good things? Well, they're doing good things,
as the world might think it. But anytime we do a work, a work
of righteousness, thinking that by doing so we are earning blessing
from God, Our righteousness has become just a filthy rag. There's nothing to it. The righteousness
that people think they're doing, truly, is something they should
be ashamed of. Paul was. Remember out the first part of
this chapter? He bragged on himself. A Hebrew
of Hebrews. The tribe of Benjamin. You know,
he had that pedigree. And he had been proud of it.
And he says, but now I count it as that which is to be thrown
to the dogs. I'm ashamed of it. So many times,
you know, he said that he wasn't worthy to be called
an apostle because he persecuted the church. And of course he
did all of that in an attempt to build up a righteousness with
God. But he was an angry man, a hateful man, a murderous man.
All the while, he said, as touching the righteousness that is in
the law, I was blameless. But he was ashamed of that life.
And those who live the legalistic life, the very thing they're
taking glory in is what they should be ashamed of. I've run
into people, oh, they can put on a show of humility. And you
know, true humility can hardly be seen. True humility isn't about going
around thinking, oh, I'm just awful and telling everybody how
bad you are. True humility reveals itself mostly in just pretty
much ignoring yourself. You don't have your mind on yourself
all the time, either to think you're good or bad. And so, When I see these people
and have talked with them, you know, and if you talk with them
about spiritual things, oh, I'm just unworthy. I believe the
gospel, but I don't know if God saved me. That would be a shame
to say anything like that. They just called God a liar.
But they thought they were looking real humble. I remember at a
conference at 13th Street one time, one of the men got up to
preach, He starts off, well, I shouldn't be here. And I immediately thought, well,
get down, I'll take your place. Now, I understand if I consider
myself, I have no business being here. But Paul says, by the grace
of God, I am what I am. And it is not humility to deny
the grace of God. And so, This false humility,
this false righteousness, or this applies equally well to
those who live their lives in pursuit of the same things the
irreligious world goes after. If that's the thing you're going
to have no matter what, and there are people that way, and they
still go to church. They go to church when they can. When they
can scrape out a little bit of time from their pursuit of money
or fame or whatever, they'll go and worship with God's people.
But if anything gets in the way of their pursuit of whatever
life it is they want, church included, if it gets in the way,
that's what gets set aside. Now that's the proof of what
kind of mind you have. a preacher whose name I won't
tell you because I wouldn't want you to ever think I thought he
was any good, because he didn't preach the truth. But that doesn't
mean he never said anything that was good. Now he was talking
about courage or fortitude or something like that, but he said something to the
effect, a person's courage is not measured by how hard he tries. but by what it takes to make
him stop. Now, our pursuit of Christ, nothing must be allowed to stop
that. No one, we've had people come
here, you know, and they seem to rejoice in what they hear,
but then somebody in their family gets upset that they're here.
and they go somewhere else. They go back to what, in a sense,
they've gotten saved from. They quit the pursuit. So we must always be taking an
assessment of ourselves in order that we not fall among this group
who live according to our own appetites and inward thoughts and whose mind is on earthly
things. Verse 20, now, the real bonafide
believer, but our citizenship is in heaven. I looked this up
in the original language. I always do that because there's
little tidbits you can pick up sometimes. It just can't make
it by way of a translation. But that word translated is,
is much more than we normally much more powerful than we'd
normally give to the word is. It means that which we have always
had possession of. Now you read it like, you know,
our citizenship is in heaven. It's as though, yeah, when we
get there, we'll be citizens. We are now. Now we're away from
home. Right now we possess. citizenship
in heaven. Now there will be many who claim
that, and they shall rise, you know, I don't know what heaven's
really like, but you know, they're always pictured as a big golden
city, but there's somebody at the gate keeping guard, and they'll
get there and say, let me in. Why? Well, I'm a citizen. Well, show me your papers. It's
interesting that in another place Paul talks about that he holds
his body in so that after he's preached to everyone else, he
won't find himself disqualified. And I think the word is adhocumos
or something like that. But we get our word document
from it. He says, lest I prove undocumented. Now we've heard
that word with regard to non-citizenship. You know, uh, they keep trying
to change what an illegal border crosser is. They keep trying
to change the name because they don't want to use anything that
sounds offensive. But that was one of the names that we passed
through an undocumented, um, worker, somebody who came to,
uh, got a job in the United States, but they don't have documents.
It was a green card, I think, whatever. They don't have documents
to prove they have a right to it. You and I who believe, we
have documents. And so, we have a legitimate
claim. When we pass from this life,
we will have a legitimate claim to enter into heaven. Show me
your documents. Well, the documents are, we believe
Christ. Christ is our only hope. And so, Our citizenship is in
heaven and we eagerly wait a savior from there, the Lord Jesus. Now
we're not only aliens, we are aliens who are kind of being
held against our will. Now we love people here and we
can enjoy the things here, but still there is a part of us that
wishes we were with the Lord. Now it's not in our hand, it's
not within our power or authority to determine when our departure
shall be. But understand for the believer,
his death, his departure from this world is the Savior coming
to get him and rescuing him from this world. It's not a judgment,
it's a salvation. And it says, the certainty of
all of this is in verse 21, who by the power that enables him
to bring everything under his control. And he is, he has everything
in his control. By that same power, he will transform our lowly bodies
so that they will be like his glorious body. So this deliverance,
this salvation is not just a matter of going from one place to another,
it's being transformed from being one kind of person to being another
kind of person. Our Lord Jesus Christ went through
such a transformation, for he raised from the dead different
than he was before he died. Same person, But before, he was
subject to the laws of physics that we are. And we can't explain
exactly how it was, but though he had a human body, a physical
body, he even ate food and all that, he could walk right through
a door. It said he came in the room without
opening the door. He could be here one moment and
cross the country the next moment. Now, I'm not going to try to
speculate about that. But the Bible says, as he is,
or mean that when we shall see him, we shall be like him. No longer this vile body. You say, well, I may not be the
best looking human ever walked the face of the earth, but I
don't know that I would want to use the word vile or corrupt. Well,
if you ever saw what we were going to be, would recognize
just how inglorious, vile, and corrupt we are. Alright, we'll
start with chapter 4 next week.