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“Pressing On!” - June 29, 2008

Rev. Dr. Richard B. Knight

Philippians 3:1-16 (p. 175 NT)

The letter to the Christians at Philippi is quite a remarkable letter.

It shows Paul’s enormous faith & the depth of his relationship with God.

But it also shows Paul’s human side.

He has great affection for the Philippians. They’re probably his favorite church. They’ve just sent him money and clothing when he really needed it.

So we see the tender side of Paul, but we also see a little bit of his harsh side.

St. Paul could be a bit fiery.

You see this in several of his letters - “Oh You foolish Galatians” was his greeting to the Galatians.

Paul was a man of great faith and character, but like all of us he had feet of clay.

He had conflicts with St. Peter and confronted him boldly.

He had a falling out with John Mark and they parted ways for years. - Acts 15 His dear friend Barnabas didn’t like the way Paul handled it, and they parted ways as well.

St. Paul was not always saintly.

To use Martin Luther’s phrase - simultaneous sinner & saints.

You’ll hear his sharp edges in this text as well, but you’ll also hear so much more.

Phil. 3:1-16 -

“Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh—even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

(NOTE - “Beware of the Dogs” - Jewish Christians who required Gentile Christians to become circumcised to be a Christian.

This was contrary to the Gospel of grace that Paul taught. And he speaks very strongly about it here and elsewhere.)

Most texts have a punch line - like a joke everything leads up to the punch line. There’s often a punch line in Jesus parables.

Good Samaritan - “Go and do likewise.”

Sheep & the Goats - “When you’ve done it unto the least of these, you’ve done it unto me.”

In John ch. 1 everything leads up to vs. 14 - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.”

So when we’re reading the Bible, it’s best to read it in chunks, in small to moderate sections at a time, and look for the punch lines - the lines that pop out at you. This is especially true in the letters of the New Testament. Just like when we write letters, each paragraph is often about a unique topic.

“The weather in Maine has been rainy lately.”

“The Celtics won the championship and it seems like we’re living in Sports Heaven.”

Vss. 7-11 make up one important paragraph in our reading this morning It all leads up to Paul stating the goal of his life - “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings.”

“I want to know Christ.” - that’s his mission statement. It’s one of the great verses in the Bible - “I want to know Christ - the power of his resurrection and the sharing or fellowship of his sufferings.”

But then Paul quickly adds - “I haven’t obtained it yet.”

“I haven’t arrived. I’m a work in progress. “I know I’m still on the way. God isn’t finished with me yet.” “I haven’t completely made it my own, as Christ has made me his own. - I’m not ‘St. Paul’ . . . . yet.”

But this one thing I do . . . “

When a person of Paul’s stature says, “But this one thing I do” - that gets my attention. That perks up my ears. “But this one thing I do - forgetting what lies behind I strain forward to what lies ahead.”

He says it several times in several different ways.

- “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ has made me his own.” “I do not consider that I have completely made it my own, but this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I’m not there yet. In fact, I’ve got a ways to go! But that’s where my focus is. I’m pressing on, I’m going forward.

The word he uses for “straining” - epekteinomenos - was a word used in the First Century to describe a runner stretching out for the tape at the finish line. It’s somebody going flat out for the goal, for the prize. Paul says, I can’t focus on what’s behind me, I’ve got to focus on the prize, who is Christ.

Illustration. You may have heard about the two friends that went hunting together one day, and they came across some huge bear tracks. Larger than any they’d ever seen. The one hunter says to his friend, “I’ve got an idea. You go that way and see where he went. And I’ll go this way and see where he came from.”

Paul says “I’m going for the prize. I’m not looking back. I’m pressing on. I’m Straining on. Give it all I’ve got!”

Paul had at least two reasons for not looking back. “One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind.” Paul had two reasons for forgetting what lies behind.

1. One is the mistakes he had made.

I’ve already mentioned his conflict with St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. Barnabas, the one who introduced him to the disciples following Paul’s conversion. We also know of one horrendous action of St. Paul. He approved the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Steven. Act. 8:1 says that Paul, then named Saul, gave the approval for the execution. Paul took part in a murder.

Of course, so did Moses. At age 40 he killed an Egyptian who was being cruel to a fellow Jew.

You’ve probably seen those lists of famous Biblical characters who all had some pretty colorful sins.

Abraham told some troubling lies on the way to the Promised Land.

Noah drank too much.

David was an adulterer and then set up the death of the woman’s husband.

And the list goes on and on.

Peter denied he ever knew Christ 3 times, and yet he preached the first Christian sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

It seems that we really are saved by grace. And that God can do God’s work through less than perfect people. As Max Lucado says, “Our lives are not futile, our mistakes our not final.” Thanks be to God.

So Paul looks back at his life. He knows his mistakes. He owns them, but they don’t own him. Christ owns him. “I press on to make it my own because Christ has made me his own.”

2. There’s one other reason why Paul has to keep his focus on the goal, on the prize. He’s writing this letter from prison. He mentions this 4 times in the first chapter, thanking the Philippians for his kindness to him while he’s in prison.

In Ch. 1, vs. 12 Paul says that being in prison has “actually helped me spread the Gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ.” Paul doesn’t dwell on his past, he doesn’t even seem to be dwelling on his present circumstances.

He’s dwelling on Christ.

He’s dwelling in Christ.

He’s living in Christ.

He’s forgetting what lies behind and pressing on toward Christ even while in prison. In fact, while there he ends up writing the Bible! He wrote several letters to pastors and churches, that ended up in our New Testament.

Now let’s be honest, that’s really hard to do. I suspect that prisons in the First Century were not very nice places to be, so how does Paul write such a faith-filled, joy-filled letter? In fact, it’s called the “Epistle of Joy.” - because he uses the words rejoice and joy at least 16 times. I don’t think I could do that.

Could you?

That’s why it’s so important to hear Paul’s words - “forgetting what lies behind I press on toward the goal.”

No matter what prison cells we’re in -

- prisons cells of illnesses

- prisons cells of anxiety or depression

- prisons cells of broken relationships

- prisons cells of economic hardship

- prison cells of shame and embarrassment

No matter what cells we find ourselves in, we must “strain forward” for Christ, like a First Century Olympic runner who sees the goal, the prize, and won’t stop until he gets there. The Good News of the Gospel is that God is more interested in where we’re going, than where we’ve been.

Illustration. I learned an expression on the golf course once. It’s this - “All you have is your next shot.” You can’t dwell on the bad shot you just hit.

Great players put it out of their minds immediately. They just focus on the next shot. “All you have is your next shot.”

So we press on - with Joy, with Faith, with Confidence, and most of all - with Christ.

Illustration. I came across a story than I could really relate to and I suspect St. Paul could really relate to as well. It’s a story told by Fred Craddock, a wonderful preaching professor from Atlanta. Craddock tells of time during the 1960’s following the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church, where the Catholic Church needed to do some educating over the radical changes made at Vatican II. Even though Fred Craddock was a Protestant he was invited to attend some of these sessions, where those who had been to the Vatican Council would try to explain the changes to all the priests who had not been there.

Craddock went with a Jesuit priest named Fr. Gene Monihan, a person Craddock came to admire very much. At the very first session Fr. Monihan came out into the cancel of the church to address his fellow priests. He was barefoot, wearing a pair of white-washed trousers and a t-shirt, an undershirt. He looked out at the priests and said, “I’m 54 years old. I have spent most of my adult life with my back turned to the congregation as I ministered to the altar. Now my church says, “Turn around and face the people.’ I have spent most of my life hiding among the incense pots and the candles, doing my work as a clergyman, and now the church says, ‘Come out and be with the people.’ I have spent most of my adult life saying the mass in Latin, and now my church says, ‘Speak English, so the people will understand,’ and on and on he went, describing the changes. When he came to the end, he said to the priests that were gathered, “As you can see, I have been stripped of almost everything. All that I have left is God.

How true that is for all of us.

How powerful that spiritual truth was for Paul.

Flawed and in prison.

All he had was God and his Philippian friends. And that was enough.

Thanks be to God.