Eyes on the Prize
Philippians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Text: Philippians 3:12-21.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.
16 Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you.
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.
19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
PRAY
Introduction: Running the Race
Accurate times for the mile run (1.609344 km) have been recorded since 1850, when the first precisely measured running tracks were built…
Progression of the mile record accelerated in the 1930s as newsreel coverage greatly popularized the sport… In the 1940s, [Swedish men] Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg lowered the record to 4:01.4 while racing was curtailed during World War II in the combatant countries. After the war, Roger Bannister of the United Kingdom and John Landy of Australia vied to be the first to break the fabled four-minute mile barrier. [Nobody had done this yet, at least according to official measurements] Roger Bannister did it first on May 6, 1954, and John Landy followed 46 days later.
(Source: Wikipedia)
On 6th May 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4-minute mile at Iffley Road, Oxford. He held his world record for just six weeks before his great rival, John Landy of Australia, broke it by more than a second with a time of 3:58.0. The stage was now set for a dramatic showdown between the two runners in the final of the One Mile at the Empire Games in Vancouver on 7th August 1954.
[I watched the video of this race on YouTube, knowing the outcome, and it was fascinating]
This race proved to be probably the most exciting mile race ever run and is still known as the "Miracle Mile". A statue stands in Vancouver to commemorate its moment of highest drama, when John Landy looked back over his left shoulder just as Roger Bannister passed him on his right. Of that instant John Landy said, "When Lots wife looked back she was turned into a pillar of salt. When I looked back I was turned into a pillar of bronze!". (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FUPJKjuoPQ)
One of Landy’s complaints about why he lost the race was that there was no one out front with him spurring him on. There were not others beside him helping him keep pace or pushing him faster. On the other hand, Roger Bannister in his interview following the race credited Landy for his help in pushing Bannister to run faster and eventually win. Having Landy just ahead of him for most of the race motivated Bannister to keep pace and eventually pull ahead and win.
For us as Christians, our goal isn’t competition with other Christians, trying to be the first to cross the finish line. Rather, we are all running the race together with the goal of finishing. If you finish the race, you win the prize. And the race becomes a lot easier for us when we realize we’re not running alone. Not only has Jesus Christ promised His presence with us, but He has given us many examples of faith to learn from and imitate. (v. 15-17; Hebrews 6:9-12; 12:1-2)
Running the Race
In these verses, Paul gives us some different images of the Christian life to show us what it looks like. Starting in v. 12, he uses the imagery of running or racing.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Not that I have already obtained all this
Though many Bible translations start a new paragraph or section here with this verse, Paul hasn’t changed subjects. He is using different imagery here, but his focus is still the same. As we talked about in v. 7-11 last week, Paul’s singular goal is to know Jesus Christ, to enjoy intimate fellowship with Him. He talked in v. 8 about the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ - that to be in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is worth more than anything to him, to the point that he’s willing to discard anything and everything else for the sake of Christ.
He says in v. 10, “I want to know Christ” to the point of being willing to suffer and die for His sake. Everything else is a loss, it’s less than worthless, if only I can know Christ more deeply.
So this is Paul’s goal, and now he’s using the imagery of running a race to describe how he pursues this goal. His goal, his prize, is to know Christ fully - that is what awaits at the finish line.
And Paul says here, I haven’t gotten there yet. I don’t yet know Christ as fully as I want to and need to know Him. I have not arrived at the finish line.
(Illustration: GPS - “You have arrived”)?
or have already been made perfect,
So Paul says, I haven’t yet arrived at a full knowledge of Christ, and he also says, I haven’t already been made perfect, that is, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. I haven’t become perfectly like Christ.
How about you? Have you come to know Christ perfectly? Does your life perfectly reflect His life? (NO!)
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
If you struggle with perfectionism like me, sometimes your failure to be perfect keeps you from making progress at all.
Back when I was in college, about 16 or 17 years ago, my pastor at the time encouraged me to pursue advanced education and study either German or Latin to help in my studies. (Those languages are important for theological education). I settled on German, and I bought the Rosetta Stone full course on German for about $500. I was going to learn German. Well, that dream died rather quickly. At first, it was going really well, and I was scoring perfectly on all the little tests or activities in the course. But shortly, I started to get some answers wrong. I started getting 95% instead of 100%. Then only 90% or 80% and maybe even lower. My inability to learn the language perfectly discouraged me, and I gave up on German after only completing 1 of the 5 levels. I wasted all that money and came away with only a basic understanding of German because of my inability to be perfect.
Maybe you can relate. I’m sure I’m not the only recovering perfectionist here.
In the Christian life, we need to give up our dreams of perfection in this life, and keep our eyes on the prize and keep running and get back up when we fall.
Proverbs says that the righteous man falls 7 times but keeps getting back up again.
Illustration of Rebekah falling down on our walks down the lane
Notice that word “but” in the middle of v. 12. I haven’t obtained a full knowledge of Christ, I haven’t become perfectly like Him, BUT… (That word is so important!)
I’m not there yet, BUT! I press on, I run, I exert myself to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Why did Christ Jesus take hold of Paul? What was His purpose in grabbing hold of him? What’s His purpose for any one of us?
Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 of Christ’s purpose for us when He returns:
10 on the day He comes to be glorified in His saints and regarded with wonder by all who have believed, including you who have believed our testimony.
When He comes back for us, this is His purpose:
He comes to be glorified, and
He comes to be regarded with wonder (marveled at)
He will fully display His glory to us - we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2) - and the only proper response to that glory is for our jaws to hit the floor. WOW! That is awesome! That is amazing!
And just as those in heaven now say, we will also sing the song, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power…”
Holy, Holy, Holy
You are worthy!
And for all eternity, we will stand in awe of Him. We will never stop being amazed at His glory.
But how easily we lose sight of Him now. How easily we are attracted by the things of this world and the pleasures and possessions of this life.
Back to verse 12 of Philippians ch. 3.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
I think the purpose for which Christ Jesus took hold of Paul, and the reason He takes hold of any one of us, is precisely this. He wants us to see His glory and respond properly to His glory with love and worship and praise.
We could also use the word that Paul used a few verses earlier and say that the goal of Jesus Christ for Paul and every redeemed person is that we would KNOW Him. That we would know Christ for who He is and love Him and worship Him and treasure Him above all else.
That’s His goal. That’s what He wants for us, and for Paul, that was his life goal. Jesus wants me to know Him, and I want to know Him. And when our goal for our life is the same as Jesus’s goal, He will be glorified and we will be satisfied.
Going on to v. 13:
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
Paul calls their attention and repeats himself - I haven’t arrived yet. I don’t fully know Him, I don’t yet love and worship and praise Him as His glory deserves.
12 Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
There’s coming a day when we will fully know Him and respond properly to His glory - we will know Him fully and love and worship Him perfectly. But right now it’s like looking in a dirty mirror, or when the mirror’s all steamed up. You can still see some of the reflection, but it’s fuzzy.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
So Paul again says, I’m not there yet, BUT! There’s that word again.
But one thing I do:
My current imperfection doesn’t keep me from moving in the right direction.
The one thing he does is at the beginning of v. 14, and it’s the same thing he said in v. 12: I PRESS ON. But before he says that, he says 2 other things that help us understand what he is doing.
Forgetting what is behind
I think Paul means, not looking back in such a way so as to hinder my forward progress toward the goal. He doesn’t mean forget everything that has ever happened in the past. We know that because he just talked about how Christ Jesus took hold of him (past tense) - you don’t ever want to forget the things that God has done for you and how He has rescued you. Don’t ever forget what Jesus did through His death and resurrection.
So what things is Paul forgetting? I think at least a major part of it is what he talked about in v. 4-8: all of his past success and accomplishments, all of the things he was clinging to as grounds for boasting. These things he now counts as loss, and compared to knowing Christ, he says, everything else is loss. That’s what he is forgetting. Anything that keeps him from his wholehearted pursuit of Jesus Christ. It’s the same attitude expressed by the author of Hebrews.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
Not only is it sin that trips us up, anything else that keeps us from pursuing Christ is weighing us down, and it needs to go.
What do you need to forget? What is it that is weighing you down? What is keeping you from wholeheartedly pursuing Christ?
Maybe there’s sin in your past or even right now that’s taking your eyes off of Jesus.
Maybe it’s the entertainment of technology - your phone, computer, TV, watching sports, playing games, listening to the news, scrolling social media (Technology can be a really useful tool for God’s purposes, but how often do we get distracted with it? I know it’s a real struggle for me to use it properly.)
Maybe there is a friendship or relationship in your life that is distracting you from Him.
Maybe you are valuing the pleasures and possessions this world has to offer instead of running after the greatest Treasure.
Whatever it is that is distracting you from pursuing Christ needs to go, so that you can wholeheartedly pursue Him.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
So Paul forgets what’s behind, and
and straining toward what is ahead,
Paul kept focused in the right direction. He kept his eyes on the prize. And he ran hard.
Few people over the last 2000 years have run the race as hard as Paul did. He gave it everything. With every fiber of his being he pursued Jesus Christ. He strained toward Him.
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
I press on toward the goal (dioko = “to move rapidly and decisively toward an objective” (BDAG) - giving your very best effort, running hard, hastening toward the goal)
This is the same thing that Paul said back in v. 12, but now he expresses the same idea with different words. Using this imagery of running a race, Paul says I have my eyes on the finish line. I can see it just up ahead. And I’m running hard to get to the end of the race and win the prize.
to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
And what is the prize?
Philippians Pursuing the Prize: Knowing Christ at the End (3:12–14)
The “what” that Paul presses on toward continues the athletic imagery; it is to reach the goal and thus win the prize. But no mere “celery wreath” for Paul (the ordinary prize in the games). The goal is God’s eschatological conclusion of things; the prize is Christ, which in context means the final realization of knowing him. This is what Paul would gladly die to gain (1:23); this is what his whole life is about; no other reward could have any meaning for him.
Again, he’s repeating what he said earlier in different words. The upward call of God in Christ Jesus seems to look both backward and forward - back to God’s initial work in Paul’s life of calling Paul to Himself, and forward to the fulfillment of that call when Paul joins Jesus Christ in heaven to see Him and enjoy Him forever.
Jesus Christ Himself is the prize.
Heaven isn’t about mansions or streets of gold or pearly gates. The most exciting thing about the life to come is not having new bodies or the absence of pain, sorrow and death. That’s great of course. But Heaven isn’t the fulfillment of the American Dream. It’s not about you.
The true Treasure of Heaven is Jesus Christ. The streets of gold will look like dirt compared to His glory. You will be so captivated by His beauty that nothing else will seem valuable at all compared to Him.
This was Paul’s focus, and it’s what he calls us to as well.
15 All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well. 16 Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.
Paul has told us that this is what he does. He pursues Christ with everything he has. He is running hard after Christ. And he says, you should too.
This is what Christians do. They pursue Christ. So run after Christ like Paul, and so demonstrate that you are in fact a genuine believer.
John Piper said this in a sermon on this passage: “Saving faith is an ongoing preference for Christ over all other values. The pursuit of Christ is the evidence of genuine faith in Christ as our treasure. Therefore, we must go hard after Christ in order to confirm our justification.” -John Piper
He’s right. Your present perseverance in the race of faith and pursuing Christ is evidence that you truly belong to Him. If He has taken hold of you, you will be seeking to take hold of Him.
Bible Commentator Matthew Henry put it this way: "Wherever there is true grace there is a desire for more grace." - Matthew Henry
If you have truly experienced God’s grace in salvation, if you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, one taste won’t be enough. You will keep coming back for more.
17 Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you.
One of the blessings in the Christian life is that we have so many examples of faith who have gone before us. Paul is an example for us in this passage. Hebrews 11 is full of examples of people who faithfully ran the race and pursued Christ by faith. And Hebrews 12 begins,
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So many men and women have gone before us, faithfully pursuing Christ, and now they are witnesses - not in the sense of watching us run (spectators), but they testify to the worth of Jesus Christ and the life of faith pursuing Him. They are on the sidelines or perhaps at the finish line cheering us on, encouraging us with the truth that it is worth it. Jesus is worth it. He is the prize, and they have won Him, and now their testimony stands to encourage us to keep running the race.
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep running toward Him. He is the prize.
So thank God for examples who have gone before us. And let’s keep our eyes on Jesus. Run after Him. Pursue Him with all you’ve got. Get rid of any distractions. And run with endurance the race set out for you.
Run to Jesus.
PRAY
I was planning to get to the end of the chapter, but I ran out of time. Lord willing, we’ll look more at the final verses next time.
