Press On
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Desire to Press On
Desire to Press On
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But 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 upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
When I think about the Apostle Paul, my mind jumps to all the accolades.
Circumcised on the 8th day
Israelite
Tribe of Benjamin
Hebrew among Hebrews
A Pharisee as the Law is concerned
So zealous for the Lord that anyone he thought was not for God he would haul to jail, and support their execution.
Blameless
And all of that is before his conversion.
Paul’s conversion leaves no doubt that he is a believer.
While he was caught up in the middle of his Jewish religious services, on the Road to Damascus with permission to hunt down Christians and drag them off to Jail.
Jesus shows up big time.
Paul falls down and in blinded by this bright light.
He hears Jesus’ voice, Saul Saul (His Hebrew name) why are you persecuting me?
Paul asks who are you?
Jesus Christ.
Paul is blinded from this experience and taken to a room in Damascus where he stayed blind for 3 days.
Until God sends Ananias to Him.
Paul was so good at persecuting Christians you can hear the trembling in Ananias that Paul is who he is to go share the Gospel with.
But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.
And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”
Ananias goes, finds Paul shares the Gospel and then something like scales fall off of Paul’s eye.
Suddenly he can see.
But this sight is more that physical, it spiritual too.
Paul wasn’t looking for Jesus.
He was persecuting the church that Jesus started and died for.
Yet Jesus found Paul and got a hold of him in a dramatic way.
Think about all Paul’s life through the rest of Acts.
Almost immediately after his conversion Paul begins proclaiming Jesus so boldly and so strongly in Synagogues, that the Jews were plotting to kill him.
This is the same man who they were sending to take care of Christians, now they are ready to kill.
Paul escapes their threat by being lowered in a basket.
Paul lists some of the others things that happened in his life in 2 Corinthians.
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
Let’s not forget that Paul wrote to the churches and pastors that we was close too and many of those letters were written by Paul through the Holy Spirit and we now have bound in our bible and understand to be actually God’s Word for us.
Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.
Acts talks about Paul and awful lot, and Hebrews we do not know who wrote but many people believe either Paul wrote it, its a manuscript or notes from a sermon he preached or someone closely connected to Paul wrote it.
All of that leads up to this point, Paul on paper appears at least in my mind to be about as mature and good of a Christian as ever lived.
Preaches and people were saved.
Held churches to high standards and called them out in ways that I don’t think would float today, ever read Galatians?
So it should stand out that Paul starts out by saying that I have not already obtained this.
THE Apostle Paul.
So what is Paul referring to, what is Paul getting at?
If anyone had ever attained to the max of christian maturity or is perfect in this life it was Paul right.
Yet what he is saying is I have not attained this I am not perfect.
But I press on.
I press on to make it my own?
What is it?
How can you make it your own?
Because Christ mas made me His own.
Is it starting to clear what Paul is talking about.
One of the struggles of understanding the Bible is we often break it down in chapters and verses and we do not sit and read it all at once.
This was a letter written to a church that was read allowed probably several times by this church all at once.
So Paul is talking about what he has been talking about.
Mainly rejoice in the Lord, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ comes from grace through Faith not by human righteousness but by a righteousness credited to us through faith in Christ.
So what Paul is saying is this righteousness that has been credited to us, if and ONLY if you are a believers, is also what you your press on into, what you should strive to attain.
We are not saved by works, but the saved for good works.
We are not saved because we are righteous, we have been clothed in Christ’s Righteousness, but being clothed in that means we grow more and more righteous as we mature in faith.
Christ makes believers his own.
He adopts you into the family, with brothers and sisters.
And you begin to act like a family member.
How so?
Again Paul says, I have not perfected this. I have not completely made it my own, I am resting in the fact that Christ has made me his own and now I am making this my own, and getting better over time, there are seasons of struggle, but over the course of my life I am growing in Christ likeness. Righteousness.
The one thing Paul says he does is really 1 coin but two sides.
Paul uses a metaphor of running a race here.
He says side one, I forget what lies behind.
Side two, I strain forward for what lies ahead.
Forgetting what lies behind entails several things.
The main idea is if you are looking back you are not watching where you are going.
When I was running in college, before my retirement.
We would do a work out one day and the next was a “recovery” day where we would run an easy run around town.
Well I grew up in the city of Panhandle Texas, which is in Carson County.
I know y'all talk about not having many trees, but the county I grew up in has a historical marker for the first tree in Carson County, I was planted in 1888 by a settler right outside of his dugout. It died in the in the 1970’s so they replanted a tree next to it in the 1990’s that is meant to be a memorial to the pioneers.
So growing up and training in Panhandle, trees were not that big of a concern.
But in Shawnee Oklahoma, it had many trees, and many of these trees had roots that had grown and had buckled sidewalks.
One day on one of the “easy runs”
We ran right in front of the girls dorm, and I turned my head to look back I don’t remember why, I think someone yelled at us.
In turning back we came up to one of those spots that the roots of a tree had grown enough to buckle the sidewalk.
I tripped and landed on my knee, it hurt really bad! But not as bad as my pride and ego hurt.
This ended up being the most serious athletic injury I had ever had.
It kept me out several weeks, I was limited in how far I could run, my knee swelled up all because I turned back and didn’t keep looking forward.
That’s the danger Paul is getting at.
In our walk in our race of life in the faith, we cannot look back.
This takes the shape in many different ways, but Paul is certain we need to forget what lies behind.
Sometime this surfaces in our lives when after years and years of serving, giving, supporting, we feel entitled to a break because look at all that I have done.
Sometimes this surfaces not as entitlement, but as hindrance. Look at all that I have done in the past, I am not worthy to do whatever.
I think both of those things are prominent and deadly, but what I think is the most dangerous, insidious, and prominent struggle with turning back is apathy.
What I see often is I have already been saved, so I am going to coast through the rest of life not really getting out of my comfortable bubble.
We will decorate this with all sorts of Christian words like, I am not gifted in any of the areas that need to be serving at.
Or I cannot memorize well, or I don’t like reading. or I pray by myself.
Don’t judge me, lets just love, etc.
In reality when you step back cut away all the things we put up to hide and disguise it is apathy.
You simply do not care, you have been saved.
You come to church most of the time, except for the regularly scheduled holidays when you are gone.
You will tithe.
You will support the ministries.
But sanctification does no happen without effort.
Growth in Jesus does not happen with without out striving ahead.
That is what Paul says.
Paul is in prison, he could go, you know what I have pressed on enough.
I am just going to sit out my sentence and then leave.
Everyone else can carry the weight.
But that isn’t what He does.
He longs for this church 800 miles away.
No telling what other churches he cares for, not to mention those who are around him that he is caring for.
Paul could be at the end of his life, the Romans could walk in at any moment, change their mind about Paul and kill Him, and yet he is still striving ahead.
Pressing on.
Why?
for the prize.
towards the goal.
Which is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus is the goal, and Jesus is the one who empowers you to reach the goal.
The idea of starting the race for Paul, which is Salvation. But not running to win.
Not striving hard towards the finish line, which is death or Christ coming back.
Is foreign to Paul.
He is saying Salvation isn’t the finish line, it’s the starting line.
You are currently in the race if you are alive and a believer in Jesus Christ.
So Strive! Don’t look back at what you have done or who you were, but press on!
Far to many Christians give the Gospel and Jesus a terrible reputation because we become “saved” and then act like that is the finish line and you have already recieved your medal. So not you go on the victory tour.
You have the parade in your hometown to celebrate your victory.
They are interviewing you and ask what are you going to do next and you have dreamed about this moment, “i am going to Disney world”
But al of that happens in the middle of the race still.
Can you imagine that?
Think about a track meet, bang the contestants run and run, then somewhere along the race one guy just stops, walks over the to tophy stand and it standing on the top step waiting for his gold medal...
He winking at the cameras, I’m number 1! This one’s for you mom!
That’s ridiculous right?
And yet so many of us run our spiritual race of faith like this.
This is important to say.
Just because you have been a believer for a long time does not make you mature.
We age physically no matter what, but spiritually that does not happen.
I think it’s funny that physically we want to be younger… but spiritually that's shouldn’t be the desire right?
I have been a believer for 20 years but guess what I am only spiritually about 3!
The desire is to press on and become more spiritually mature in Christ.
Those who are mature in the faith recognize the need to press on and grow more and more in Christ.
The more we grow in Christ the more we see our sin for what it is rebellion against the very one who made us his own and loves us deeper and better than we could ever imagine.
So we hate our sin.
We repent to God and to those we sin against more frequently while we sin less and less.
But as our sin becomes less and less, it is still present and we become more sensitive to our sin and feel worse about the little sin that we used to about the bigger sins.
We repent more.
Christians are not those who have no need to repent, but are those who repent more frequently.
We recognize that we do not have it all together, that though we are saved and thus saints, we are still wreslting with our sinful flesh and desires.
I love what Paul does here.
He says if you think otherwise.
If you think the Christian life is about coasting and relaxing.
God will reveal to you that it is not.
Pretty much Paul says it’s time to grow up, or God will grow you up.
I pray this is true for us.
I hope that your life is marked by pressing on with the desire to press on.
If you claim Christianity but have no desire to know Christ more and be more like Christ, which means casting off your sin and repenting and sacrificing for the Lord, personal things, financial things, time sensitive things, then either you are saved and running from the Lord, and God will kick start in you sanctification through hardship, or you are not a true believer.
Christians do not get to lax in sanctification, and still grow in Christ.
Pressing On with the Right Leaders
Pressing On with the Right Leaders
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
Paul calls for the Philippians and himself to hold true to what they have attained.
This salvation is by grace through Faith in Christ alone.
Then Paul says to keep pressing on, hold to the truth you have attained, and how do you hold to this is my imitating more mature Christians, and watching those who have proven to walk according to the example of Christ.
So much of this letter to the Philippians has been guarding against disunity for the wrong reasons.
Unity in the body has been the goal.
This unity comes from being humble, counting others as better than your self.
Serving others.
Seeing past you and your intimidate families needs to the broader church family.
So it seems odd that Paul says join in imitating those more mature Christians.
This doesn’t feel like humility.
What Paul is getting at is a part of pressing on is pressing on together, but the sad and hard reality that we must deal with is that some leaders are not the right leaders to follow.
I have heard much lamenting about the state of Christianity in America right now.
What I see is a moment in time where God seems to be separating true believers from cultural believers.
It is no longer as culturally advantageous to be a church and be seen in this light as it used to be.
As a result, less and less people are pretending to be Christians.
But what I think is telling is Paul is writing this to a church in Philippi.
It would not have been culturally advantageous then to follow Christ.
To say Jesus is King is to say that Caesar is not.
Philippi was at this time still proudly a Roman City even though it was not in Rome.
They were still citizens, and had many retired military living there.
This seems to be something that easily deceiving Christians
Paul brings up the opposite group.
You have mature Christians who’s press on the good race
However, you have others, many Paul says, who walk as enemies of the cross of Jesus.
To be an enemy of the cross means you undermine what the cross stands for for Christians.
We miss this because crosses have become decorations for us.
We have them up, we wear them as jewelry, not us but some will tattoo them with patterns and decorations.
For this culture the cross was the electric chair.
Can you imagine how odd that would be?
You walk into your grandmas house she is is sporting ol sparky earring's and she has a death wall filled with electric chairs and even an old guillotine that’s a family heirloom.
That would be odd right?
So enemies of the cross means people who pervert the meaning of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
This happens in a multitude of ways.
By adding to it.
We are saved by grace alone through Faith alone, in Christ alone.
To say that we need to do works to be saved or to keep our salvation is to say the cross isn’t enough.
Jesus’ sacrifice does not need your sacrifice to be complete.
That’s a lie.
I know of groups, in fact maybe a year ago someone walked into our church looking for the pastor, I said hello and he handed me this literature (hold up the Jewish book) that talks about how to really be saved we need to revert back to Jewish customs and culture.
Sometimes we subvert the Gospel, by saying and acting apathetic.
Jesus died enough for me to be saved, but not enough to move me to grow in Christ.
Sometimes this happens by saying spiritual Christian things, but missing the cross completely.
Listen to community prayers for the cross.
Listen to contemporary songs on the radio about the cross.
I think you will find they are fleeting.
Paul says he is weeping as he rights things thinking about these people because their end in destruction.
Eternal destruction.
Their god, lowercase g, is their bellies.
this is a phrase that means they worship their desires.
Biblical Christianity is about bringing our desires, out identity, our hope under the Lordship of Christ.
they glory in their shame.
The things that should be shameful, are what they are most proud of.
they do this because they have earthly minds.
They can only see the Physical world, this is all they have.
So they chase everything they can get in the world, because as soon as they die, its destruction.
This world is all they have.
And apparently people are following this group.
What Paul is saying is a part of pressing on in Christ Jesus is recognizing who to follow and who to weep and share the Gospel with.
Press on in Christ.
For some of us what this means is you have been a believer in Jesus for a long time.
It’s time for you to live your life in a way that others can follow you, not because you are perfect, but so they can know how to live as a Christian in Ira Texas.
This is the beauty of what Paul is saying.
We will fail in how we live, but if we are Christians when we fail we repent, we apologize and we grow in Grace.
Essentially what we need to be leading others to is how to repent and apologize better.
Pressing On with Heaven on the Mind
Pressing On with Heaven on the Mind
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Press on with the desire to press on, following the right leaders who push our hearts and minds into the cross of Christ, and we keep out eyes and thoughts and minds in heaven.
This is where we are citizens of.
When I first got here, a couple years ago we did Wednesday nights over Church Membership, what the church is and why it matters.
We talked about this idea.
That once you become a believer in Jesus Christ you become a citizen of Heaven.
Church’s are outpost or embassies of this.
They do not give citizenship, but they recognize who belongs to this kingdom and who does not.
This is part of why it is so important to be an active member of a local church.
God has placed them scattered around for your growth good and for his glory.
Think about what this would have meant to the Philippians.
This was a city that was 800 miles from Rome, yet has Roman citizenship status.
This would have made sense to them they were are citizen of a Kingdom that they do not currently live in.
They are Romans outside of Rome.
We are Citizen of Heaven, outside of Heaven.
Live like it.
Press on by waiting for the Savior, King.
Who when he comes will transform us.
Spiritually we will be complete.
Physically our bodies will become like Christ’s resurrected body.
Unencumbered by sin.
There is a link here to the Christ hymn in Philippians 2:6-11.
Christ was exalted because he humbled to the point of death, death on a cross.
We will be given glorified bodies when we associate and live in the hope of the humility of the cross of Jesus Christ.
He will do this through his power.
So press on.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Keep running the race, the race isn’t done yet, keep fighting, keep straining, don’t stop.
Keep moving forward, it’s going to be painful, it’s going to hurt, you are going to get tired,
But look to others for help, other godly leaders who will run the race with you, showing you how to look out for certain obstacles present in your context.
Don’t look back at what you have done keep your eye on heaven.
You are running to the Kingdom with your beloved King.
In fact the only reason you can run this race is because this beloved King loved you enough to save you to Himself.
He died so you could live.
He died so you can press on.
He took the wrath that was earned by you.
He took the righteousness that was earned by Him.
He substituted them.
Now you run with His righteousness not because you earned it but because it was given to you and received through faith.
He bore your wrath, your debt is paid, you do not run with burdens and weights you run free.
This means that as you run when you sin, it burdens you, you hate it. So you apologize to others, you seek their good over your own.
You repent and keep running the race.
Knowing that you will one day cross the finish-line into the Kingdom of God.
Run!
Press on!
Keep Straining!
Do it with a church.
Be a model for someone by pointing them to Christ.
When others talk about following you, make sure they know that you led them to Jesus and him crucified.
Find others who haven’y started the race yet, and appeal to them.
Share the good news of Jesus with them.
I have heard Keith say if you catch me running it’s because something is chasing me.
Let others see you running and make them wonder is something chasing them?
You can say Jesus caught me and saved me, and now I run to Him.
If I can run to Him so can you!
Come run with me.
Press on!
It is hear in that state that you find joy and can rejoice which is what so much of the book of Philippians is about.
Joy comes from pressing on towards Jesus, getting close and close maturing to be like him more and more.