SAINTS OF GOD: GAINING THE PRIZE Philippians 3:12-16 Have you ever been to or seen a horse race? Well if you have, you must have notice the blinders placed on the sides of each horse’s eyes. The rider holds the reins tight to prevent the horse from looking back and the “blinders” prevent the horse from seeing on either side. All the horse can do is look straight ahead. Well today we will learn how and why Paul compares our Christian walk to a race… a race of our faith. LESSON Philippians 3:12-14 When we talk about Paul and his Christian walk, many of us tend to think of all the reasons that Paul had to stick out his chest and brag about his Christian life. For example: He was hand picked by Christ to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. God was using him to record the inspired words of God. He was a tremendous soul-winner and preacher of the Word. It seemed that Paul had all his ducks in a row and was making the grade for Jesus. Anyone looking at his life would have concluded that Paul had arrived… he was the perfect Christian. However, Paul knew the truth! He had not arrived, but was still working towards that ultimate goal - Perfect Christ-likeness! In verse 12, Paul admits that he is not perfect. Pauls response to his own life was a mark of spiritual maturity (also see Galatians 6:3)! Paul is telling us to beware of people who think they have arrived! None of us have reached perfection yet, but we will one day! All of us has sinned and come short of the Glory of God. The Apostle John says to those who think they have no sin, “they lie and the truth is not in them.” Now Paul states twice in verse 12 that he still had room to improve, and in doing so, he destroys anyone elses claim to reach perfection. The Apostle John was even more direct about it by saying in 1John 1:8-10: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. All claims to eradicate sin in this life are false. Such a person is self-deceived and the truth is not in him. So Paul realized that he wasnt perfect, but he was not content to let that cause him to sit still on the Lord. Too many people will get either discouraged or sedated with the lives they are living and will just quit on God. They will look at their past failures and give up; or look at their accomplishments and sit back thinking they have done enough and have it made. Listen: Our greatest glory is not in never failing and not in worldly success; our greatest glory is in rising every time we fall and continuing to greater heights when we succeed. We’ve failed many times, although we may not remember. We fell down the first time we tried to walk. We probably almost drowned the first time we tried to swim. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs. R. H. Macy failed seven times before his New York department store finally caught on. We can’t allow ourselves to become fixated on our failures. We are all human. We make mistakes. We sin. We fail. But what is worse, is missing the opportunities that God puts in front of us because we are afraid to fail. Michael Jordan is possibly the best basketball player to ever play the game; yet, he readily admits that he has missed more than 9,000 shots in his career and has lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times he had been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. He failed over and over and over again in his life… and yet he was a basketball success. God once told the prophet Jeremiah that He would, one day, establish a New Covenant with the children of Israel. And when He did, He said, I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah. 31:34). That covenant was established when Jesus Christ died on the cross. Since that day, God’s forgiveness is so complete that it is forgetfulness. If we have been washed in the blood of Christ, God has forgotten all of our failures and sins. It is time that we forget them as well. Paul lets us know that the race is not for the swiftest, but is for those who endure to the end. We must fight the good fight, finish our course, and keep the faith so that there will be a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award us (2Timothy 4:7-8). Paul wanted to lay hold on all that Jesus had for him. He realized that he had been saved for a purpose and that God had a plan for his life and Paul wanted to fulfill that purpose. In the past lessons, we learned about being Chosen and Claimed. We were all saved for a purpose. However, many of us are just Stuck on Salvation. We got saved and that is as far as we have gone with the Lord; but He saved us for a purpose! We need to kneel down at His feet and find out why He laid hold on our lives. Then, like Paul, we need to pursue that purpose with all our heart and let nothing else deter us from accomplishing our purpose and pleasing Him. Now in verse 13, we see that when it comes to Christ, Paul has a one track mind. Paul has one thing on his mind… one thing that he does. He does not look behind him … at neither his failures nor his accomplishments; neither does he look to the right nor to the left… His focus is on the prize which is Jesus. To many times we become distracted by looking at others. We either focus on our accomplishments or our failures. Sometimes we get so caught up looking at how God has blessed someone else that we don’t see our own blessings. When this happens it is called envy!!! Paul says we are to forget those things that are behind us… forget those things that are on the other side of the cross!!! We are to remove them from us as far as east is from west!!! There is another thought that needs to be mentioned here. In the beginning of this lesson, I mention horse racing and the blinders that the horses wear. These blinders prevent the horses from looking left or right at other horses in the race. As we are running for the Lord, we must not look at how others are doing in the race! There will always be those are able to outrun us or out do us; and there will be others who will lag behind, or even drop out of the race. We must not worry about what others are doing! Our duty is to run to please the Lord Jesus Christ! When we run, He should be the sole focus of our attention (see Hebrews. 12:1-2). In verse 13, the phrase, “Reaching Forth” pictures a runner in a race and as he nears the finish line, he can be seen to lean forward and strain for the goal. Paul tells us that he is reaching out with all he has to be sure that he reaches his goal, straining to accomplish his purpose in Christ and fulfill all that Christ has for him to do! How many of us can honestly say that we are straining to reach the goal? For many Christians, life is just a hit or miss proposition. We just kind of take it as it comes. If we succeed for the Lord, then we praise His name! If we happen to stumble and fall, its Oh well, Ill try and do better tomorrow! Not Paul! He wasnt content to sit around and wait for life to happen. No, he was busy making it happen! He was out there reaching for all he could be for Jesus. He was trying to reach his fullest potential for the glory of God. This is a good lesson for all of us today? We should remember how strongly the Lord reacts to apathy. The Lords message to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-16 is very serious. He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Be careful of your consideration of the past. It is good to review to critique (positive and negative) so that you can improve in the present, but do not allow yourself to become complacent or lethargic in your Christian life. We are to walk with Jesus Christ in this life and we do not sit down until the marriage supper of the Lamb. In verse fourteen Paul says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He prefaced that statement in verse thirteen with but one thing I do. Obviously Paul, like all of us, did more than one thing. He made tents. He preached sermons. He planted churches. He wrote letters and books. Paul did a lot of things. But what he is telling us is that his top priority in life was to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God. In other words, I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus. Paul’s number one priority was the Kingdom of Heaven! He was running straight toward that goal, and he was not going to let anything distract him from it. When I was at Mid America Christian University in Oklahoma City, my professor spoke on the subject of time management. He set a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen tennis-ball-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, inside the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, Is this jar full? Everyone in the class said, Yes. Really? he said. Then he reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel into the jar and shook it, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked the group once more, Is the jar full? By this time the class was starting to catch on. Probably not, someone said. Good! he replied. Then he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it filled all the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked, Is this jar full? No! the class shouted. Again he said, Good! Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour in the water until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked back at the class and asked, What is the point of this illustration? One eager student raised his hand and said, The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit something more into it! No, the Instructor replied, that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the big rocks in your life? What are your priorities? Jesus said, But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt. 6:33). Drawing closer to God through worship, spending time with Him in prayer, and seeking His guidance for your life by reading His Word -- these should be the big rocks in your jar. It is a sad, but persistent, fact that many Christians do not make God’s Kingdom a priority in life. There are fewer Christians attending Sunday school or Wednesday Night Service that our Sunday 11:00 Service. Those who feel like they are doing their spiritual duty by going to church once a week -- punching their spiritual timecard -- are not seeking first His kingdom. If we intend to press on toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers, then we need to make God and His kingdom our top priority in life. Please notice verse 13 again. Paul said, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do:. Notice that Paul did not say, one thing I will do. He didn’t say, one thing I’m going to do, or one thing I will get around to someday. He said, one thing I do. Paul was living and acting in the present. Many people today try to live in the future. Do you know what the busiest day in the world is going to be? It’s not Christmas. It’s not the day after Thanksgiving. It is someday or one day. It seems the whole world has something scheduled to do someday or one day. I’m sure that we’ve all made plans for someday, but the fact is, someday may never come. Paul is the ultimate example of living each day to the fullest -- living each day as if it were your last. When he was imprisoned in Rome, he didn’t sit there stewing, thinking about all the things he would do when he got out of jail. He wrote letters to churches, sang praises to God, and even converted some of the people who had imprisoned him! Paul used everyday to the uttermost. Listen: If you love life, then do not squander time for that is the stuff that life is made of. One of the saddest example of procrastination in the Bible is found in the life of the Roman Governor Felix, who listened to Paul speak about faith in Christ Jesus. But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, ’Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you. (Acts 24:25). Never again did Felix listen to God’s word. Once he had put it off for a time, as with so many things in life, that time never came. We all ought to be more like the psalmist, who wrote, I hastened and did not delay to keep Your commandments (Psalm 119:60). What if there were no church tomorrow because we were too busy to worship God today? What if God could not hear your prayers tomorrow because you were too busy to pray today? What if there were no Bible tomorrow because you would not read His Word today? What if there were no forgiveness tomorrow because you did not stop sinning today? Saints, we must focus our Priorities: Place God at the top of our to do list everyday. Worship Him. Study His Word. Put His Kingdom first in our lives and everything else will fall into place. We must also function in the Present and Stop living in the future. Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today. In verse 14, Paul speaks of “pressing toward the mark or reaching his goal and gaining his prize. This is the prize awarded to those who endure to the end. This is the prize that God had for him and has for all of us who fight the good fight; finish the course; and keep the faith! Paul knew that the Lord called him for a reason. He was called to carry out his duty for the Lord. He also knew that successful completion of this goal would allow him to enjoy the rewards of the Lord. It is the same for you and me! Jesus saved us to do a job for Him and for His kingdom! When we do what the Lord wants and we live our lives in pursuit of the prize, then we too will receive the rewards that come along with faithful service to the Lord! Paul refers to the prize as a high calling. Christ did not save us so that we could continue to live like the world! He saved us that we might follow after Him and strive to be like Him in every detail of life. We cheapen our salvation by running after the flesh, the world, or the devil! We cannot walk with God while holding hands with the devil! We must treat our relationship with Christ like the precious thing it is! We must strive to live up to our high calling. Philippians 3:15-16 In these verses Paul is simply telling is that this is the mature Christian attitude! Does this match your attitude of what the Christian life is supposed to be? Paul then warns us that if we have a different opinion about how the Christian race should be run, then the Lord will deal with us in that matter. I think the only problem with that is that too many people are enjoying the race they are running and wouldnt listen if the Lord did call them to run it differently! CONCLUSION If we are to succeed in the Christian life and honor God by the lives we live, then we are going to have to run the race His way. We will have to run with our eyes upon Him. We will have to learn to turn a blind eye to the allurements of the world and a deaf ear to the voice of worldly compromise. If we are to gain the prize of Christ-likeness, then we will have to pay the price of dedication and struggle. It will be a hard fought victory, but victory is ours through Christ and; in the end, when we see His face, it will be worth it all! Each of us should examine our own selves and determine just how well are we are running this race? Are your eyes on Jesus alone? As we run this race for the prize, getting our focus solely on Jesus will give us the direction we need to successfully run the race for His glory and our eternal benefit! Paul wrote this to the church in Rome. He was writing to “saved” people… Saved, Holy Ghost people like us. He says it is time to wake and be about our father’s business. “…now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness..., not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Romans 13:11-14). I love you and may God continue to bless you and keep you!!!
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 14:49:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015