Pressing on Towards the Goal

Good morning.

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the assistant pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's word to you.

A special welcome if you are new or visiting with us today.

We're glad you're here.

And we're glad you're here not because we are trying to fill as many seats as possible,

but we're glad you're here because we're following after Jesus together as one community.

And we're convinced that there's no one so good that they don't need God's grace.

And no one's so bad that they can't have it.

And so we're glad for everyone to be here because we believe that everyone needs to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

If you've been with us, you know that we're going through the book of Philippians,

and you know that Philippians is a letter.

It's a letter that's written by a man named Paul, and he's writing it to a church that's in Philippi.

It's a church much like our church.

And you know that this church is in a city much like our city.

And you know that this is a book about partnership in the gospel, that we are together.

We have a partnership.

We're heading towards the same treasure together, and that that treasure is the gospel.

It's the news about Jesus and his death and his life and his resurrection.

And that we can't take those two and separate them apart.

And we've been focusing heavily on the partnership in chapters 1 and 2.

And now that we're in chapter 3, we talked about last week, we're focusing more on the gospel.

Now these things are always related.

They're always together.

So we're not going to separate them.

But there's going to be an emphasis more sometimes on one than the other.

And if you remember from last week, as we focused on the gospel, we saw that there are only two ways to live.

Paul tells this church in Philippi that they can either live in the flesh or they can live in the spirit.

Living by the flesh is what we've talked about saying, be good like I'm good.

What I do and what I can do in and of myself is enough.

I can be good enough.

I can do enough.

Living by the spirit is saying, no one is good.

Only Jesus is good.

I can't do enough.

And I need Jesus to help me.

To help me become more and more like him.

And so while our culture says there's three ways to live.

There's good people that are models that are exceptionally good.

Bad people and then just normal average people.

The Bible tells us there are only two kinds of people.

People who are looking to Jesus knowing that they need him and people who are not.

And so as we continue talking about the gospel here in chapter 3.

As we've looked at the difference between living in the spirit and living in the flesh.

As we end chapter 3 we're going to ask this question.

What does it look like to live in the spirit?

If we've made that choice that we are not going to rely on ourselves.

Remember people who lived by the flesh were people who reduced what needed to be done into this life.

Into a very manageable set of rules.

If we've said no to that and we've said yes to Jesus in his way.

What is it that we do?

What do our lives look like?

And that's what Paul is going to talk about at the end of this chapter.

We are going to be starting at verse 12.

And we're in chapter 3 of Philippians.

You can turn there in your Bible.

It's also printed in your worship guide near the very end.

The entire passage.

And as we come to it remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold.

Even the finest gold.

And that it is sweeter than honey.

Even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

And so read with me now starting at verse 12.

Verse 15.

Verse 17.

Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Verse 17.

body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Please pray with me as we

come to this portion of God's word. Dear Father in heaven, we thank you that again and again you come

to us, you communicate to us, that you're with us, that you want us to know what you love and you want

us to love it as well, that you don't just leave us to figure out things by ourselves, but you walk

with us. We ask that you would do that again this morning, that you would send your Holy Spirit to

help us, that we would be able to hear clearly everything that you have to say about yourself

and your word. We ask all these things in the name of your son. Amen. So it's the first Sunday in

November, which means we're quickly getting into Christmas season, and families in America all

often fall into two different categories when it comes to Christmas, either fake tree people or

real tree people. And growing up, my family is very strongly in the real tree camp. However, there were

a few years when I was very young that we would have these very short trees, like two or three feet tall.

And so for the first time when I was probably about two years old, we finally got a real size tree.

This tree was six feet tall. And of course, I was not six feet tall at the time, being two.

But one of the things we had to figure out every year was how are we going to get the star on the top

of the tree? And it's very exciting because only one person is going to be able to put the star on

the top of the tree. And I had two brothers, and so obviously not every one of us were going to get to

do it every year. But for whatever reason, when I was two years old, it was my year. And so, of course,

how am I going to get this star to the top of the tree when I'm two years old and it's a six foot tall

tree? Well, I've told you about my uncle before who works for the State Department. He's partially

involved in the fake rain jackets I told you about. But he used to not be abroad. He used to live close

to us, and we loved this uncle. We loved Uncle Rich. And he would come over to our house, and he'd play

with us, and we just thought it was the best thing that had ever happened to us. And so one time when he

came over, Uncle Rich was the one who helped me get to the top of the tree. So we have this picture

in the Capone Family Christmas book, and my Uncle Rich is holding me up like this. So he's got one hand

below my chest, and then the other hand pulling out my onesie to keep me in place. And he's about six

feet tall. So he lifts me up all the way to the top of the tree. And you can see me like looking down,

and my eyes are just focused on the top, and I have this star in my hand. There's only one thing in my mind,

which is that I'm going to get to be able to put that star on the very top of the tree.

As Paul is talking to the Philippians, that is what he is saying about his relationship with God.

That is what it looks like for him to live by the Spirit. And you see in verse 12,

not that I have already obtained this, or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own,

because Christ Jesus has made me his own. In other words, my eyes are on everything that I just told

you about. Everything in verses 8 through 11. Knowing Christ, gaining Christ, being found in him,

being able to stand at the resurrection. But the only way I'm able to focus on that

is because God is already holding me. He's already holding me up. He's already sustaining me.

And so I'm reaching out with my little hand, not in my own strength. I'm not doing this. I'm not

earning something. I'm not earning salvation. I'm not earning anything from God, but I'm doing what

he has made me able to do. He's holding on to me. And so I'm going towards everything that I want

that's ahead of me. This is what he's talking about in verse 13. I do not consider that I've 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.

In other words, I want everything that I know is waiting for me in the future now.

I want everything that God is doing to restore the world. I want as much of the future as I can get.

And so it's avoiding two mistakes on the one hand. One would be living

by the flesh and saying, I'm going to do it in and of myself. That would be like two-year-old Matthew

deciding he's going to get to the top of the six-foot tree with the star, which would just end in

tragedy for me. Remember last week we talked about living by the flesh is not just a mistake. It actually

ends in destruction. You can imagine me trying to climb up this six-foot tree and pulling it down on

myself. And so one mistake is believing we can reach the top by ourselves. And the other mistake is

believing that nothing that we do matters. That if God has saved us, that we don't have to worry

about anything else. We don't have to think about anything else or do anything else. But if God has

saved us, then the reality that's true of Paul should be true of us as well. If we've admitted

that the world is not as it should be and we are not as it should be, then it's our longing and our hope

that everything would be made right. Everything would be set back to the way that it's supposed to be.

And so that is what Paul is pressing on towards. He's pressing on towards something that he knows

that he cannot have by himself. And so living by the Spirit means, first of all, that Paul is

looking for this thing. He's looking for the future. He's looking for all the things that God is going to

restore, and he's longing for it. Being a Christian is being like someone who's having our taste buds

slowly changed over time. You know, as children grow older, their taste buds change, and they begin

to appreciate flavors and experiences they would not have appreciated at a younger age.

And that's the kind of growth that Paul is looking for here. He wants to love more and more

the things that God loves and hate more and more the things that God hates. And he wants to see

God's kingdom more and more on this earth. I'm going to jump ahead just a little bit. So his goal is

what he's already talked about in verses 8 through 11, this knowing Christ being found in him,

experiencing the resurrection from the dead, seeing things that are dead brought to life.

But it's also seeing this citizenship that he talks about in verse 20. He's longing for that,

but it's not just that he knows God, but he sees what happens in the world when God is in control.

And so he's pressing on. He's moving forward. And this race image he's using is not saying that he's

trying to win and others will lose. He's simply saying, like a runner, I want to be completely

focused on what's in front of me. I want my longing and my desire and my hope more and more to be for

this upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I want everything to be made right. I want it for myself

and I want it for this world. I want this citizenship that's in heaven. And I know that I don't have it

now. I haven't obtained it. I'm not already perfect. By the way, in verse 12, this already perfect in the

original language is actually a passive verb. I have not yet been made perfect. He's not saying that he is

striving to do for himself, but he knows that God is doing for him. God is the one who's taken hold of

him. And so he longs to see that become true more and more. And so he's pressing on. He knows that he

hasn't made it yet, but he's pressing on. And so what does it look like to live in the spirit and not the

flesh? Living in the spirit and not the flesh means that we want what we know is in the future.

When Jesus comes again and makes everything right, we want the future to be present.

We want as much of the future as we can have right now.

Everyone agrees. Not everyone agrees with Christianity, with the claims of Jesus, but everyone agrees that

there's something wrong with the world. And everyone has their own sort of solution for what would make

things right. And so living by the spirit is not just acknowledging that something's wrong with the

world, which is something that everyone acknowledges, right? If we've lived long enough.

But it's acknowledging that we are part of the problem.

And we are not the ones ultimately who are going to make it right.

But our only hope is that Jesus is going to come back and make all things right.

And so the person who lives in the spirit, by the way, that's what's going on in verse 20, that

this citizenship is going to happen, that Jesus is going to come back and make everything right in

his kingdom. And so the person who lives in the spirit wants that reality more and more. They want more

and more of the future and the present. But they also recognize that they cannot have the future

and the present unless God does it. And so everyone in this world, in some way, is looking for some kind

of future in their minds to become present. But living by the spirit means we know that only God can

bring it about. It's only Jesus who, by his death and his resurrection, is able to make all things right.

And so this is part of the problem of living in the flesh is that we reduce the problems in our

world to something that we are able to make right. We're actually not honest about how broken the

world is. But living in the spirit allows us to be honest about how broken the world is because we

know how powerful the solution is.

And so we can press on because we know that God is holding on to us.

And so Paul is pushing forward every inch of his body, wanting to see this more and more be true.

And he talks in verse 15 about those who are mature think this way.

And then things get a little confusing in verse 15 and 16.

Let those of us who are mature think this way.

And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

Wait, what?

First, we have to understand what Paul is saying by mature.

What he's saying is this. The mature Christian

is someone who is living in this way.

It's someone who more and more wants the future to be present.

And someone who more and more realizes they can't do it on their own.

And so as we've talked about before, knowledge is necessary but not sufficient.

The mature Christian is not necessarily the person who has the most knowledge about the Bible.

It's not necessarily the person who understands the most theologically.

But in Paul's mind here, Christian maturity is recognizing that you have not arrived.

Remember in verse 12,

I have not obtained this or am already perfect.

Verse 13,

I do not consider that I have made it my own.

In other words, Paul knows that he does not know enough of God yet.

And Paul knows that he has not arrived.

And if Paul has not arrived,

then I think we can confidently say none of us have arrived either.

Paul who actually saw Jesus,

Jesus who blinded him and then restored him.

Paul who wrote these books that have been inspired by the Holy Spirit admits that he has not arrived.

And that that is the model for Christian maturity.

Christian maturity is recognizing that we have not arrived on the one hand.

And continuing to long and work for everything that God has for us.

wanting more and more to love the things that God loves.

And hate the things that he hates.

And so what Paul is saying in this confusing verse is,

when he says,

if in anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal that also to you.

He's saying,

if you think Christian maturity is something different than this,

as you grow,

you'll finally begin to understand

that I'm actually telling you the truth.

Don't worry if you disagree with me,

God will reveal it to you eventually.

It's probably one of the more blunt lines that Paul has here in Philippians.

And then he has some advice.

If you don't agree with me,

if you don't think that this is Christian maturity,

first of all,

God's going to reveal that to you eventually.

If you grow as a Christian,

you'll begin to understand that you haven't arrived.

Number one.

And number two,

while you're waiting,

trying to figure that out,

I have some advice for you.

See in verse 17,

brothers,

join in imitating me

and keep your eyes on those who walk

according to the example you have in us.

I told you this was going to be a focus on the gospel in chapter three,

but we're not going to lose the partnership.

And so on the one hand,

walking in the spirit

means wanting what is in the future

to become more and more true now

and knowing that only God can do that.

But it also means walking with people

who walk by the spirit.

And if this sounds familiar at all,

from chapter two,

remember we talked about Timothy and Epaphroditus,

if this sounds like the same thing,

yes.

Paul is repeating himself here in verse 17.

Join in imitating me

and making it more explicit.

Look,

if you are trying to figure out

how to walk by the spirit,

find someone else

close to you

who knows these things,

who understands them

and walk close to them.

We talked before

about question people

and answer people,

especially in chapter two.

And in chapter two,

the emphasis was heavy

on the partnership.

And so,

the emphasis on question and answer people

was heavy on

people who understood the partnership.

Remember,

question people

were people who were asking

about the needs

of others around them.

They were focused

on what other people needed.

Answer people

were people they thought

that they had arrived.

And here we have

a slightly different kind of answer

and question person.

So,

we have answer people

would be people here

in this situation

who are smug.

They think they know everything.

They've been there.

They've done that

in the Christian life.

They don't think

they have anything new to learn.

They don't see places

where God could be at work

in their life.

They're not growing

into what Paul becomes

near the end of his life

where he describes himself

as the chief of sinners.

But question people here

are people who know

what Paul says

in verses 12 and 13.

They know that they have

not already obtained

everything that God has for them.

They're not already perfect.

They know that they haven't

made it their own.

But they're pressing on.

They're continuing.

They're trying to grow.

And so,

we live in the Spirit

first when we want

God's future now

as much as possible.

And we know that

we can't do it by ourselves.

But we also live by the Spirit

when we find people

who have learned

to live by the Spirit.

When we find people

like Paul

who are able to say,

I have not arrived.

But I'm following

after Jesus.

I'm looking to Him.

I'm seeking to grow.

I want to know

more and more.

You may or may not know

there was some

pretty big news

in the Colorado Springs

hiking world recently.

This is probably

once in a quarter decade news.

Which is that

I meant 25 years.

Quarter century.

Once in probably

25 years news.

Maybe once in 15.

But there's a new trail

that opened up

that goes all the way up

to the top of Cheyenne Mountain.

And this has been

a place that's been

relatively hard

to reach in the past.

This trail has been

anticipated for a long time.

They started working on it

about probably

about 15 years ago.

And there's a lot of

legal issues

they had to get through.

And so it finally

opened last month.

Now this trail

and of course

when I found out about it

I thought I have to hike this.

I have to get to the top

of Cheyenne Mountain.

We look at it every day

from our church.

But this trail

probably starts

I mean the elevation

of where it starts

is higher than

the highest mountain

on the east coast.

And if you know me

you know that I'm

an east coast boy

through and through.

So this whole

Colorado thing

has been new.

And the point is this

I have no idea

what I'm doing.

And I know

you're looking forward

to some great story

right about how

I did something stupid.

The reality is

I was smart enough

to know what I didn't know

in this situation.

Now that hasn't

always happened

but in this situation

I've been in Colorado

long enough to think

I probably really

want to do this

and I shouldn't do it

by myself.

So I teamed up

with two people

who were born in Colorado.

I thought that was

a smart decision.

And people who

had been experienced

hikers here in the region

for a while.

So we went out

last weekend

and there were

a lot of times

where we got to places

where it wasn't clear

which way the trail

was going.

And so I just hung back

and I would let

these two experienced

hikers kind of

crawl around

and look

and look for

different trail markers

here and there.

They would look for

small piles of rocks

that people had put up

to show us the way.

And because of that

I made it back down safely.

Now I was pretty sore.

I wasn't sure

if I was going to be able

to walk at all

the next day

which happened to be

last Sunday.

Thankfully I was.

But I was able to stick

with those who are mature.

And so I wasn't sure

what to do

or how to proceed next.

I just let them go ahead

and figure out the way.

And so Paul here again

is telling us

what we have already

talked about

and what he has told us before

which is that

when we are trying

to live the Christian life

if we're not sure

what to do

he's given us

people around us

who do.

Who know the way.

Who have walked it before.

Who know what they don't know.

Right?

Part of what made

these other hikers

so skilled

is that they've

been in this situation

before.

They had never been

on this trail before

so they were aware

of their ignorance

but they also knew

the signs

to look for.

Paul is telling us

in verse 17

keep your eyes

on people who know

the signs.

Join in imitating me

and keep your eyes

on those who walk

according to the example

you have in us.

So how do we walk

by the spirit?

How do we stay true

to the gospel?

Well big surprise

again we stick

with the partnership

and so we walk

by the spirit

when we want

to see

God's reign

and his rule

become more

and more in our lives

and we know that

we can't bring

that to bear

and we walk

by the spirit

and we walk

with people

who have walked

with the spirit

for a long time.

And then Paul

begins to tell us

what this future

looks like.

What it is

that we're headed

towards together.

We can join

in imitating those

who know the way

verse 17

or verse 18

there are those

who don't know the way.

They 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.

Now Paul

is not saying

there's a temptation

when we talk

about the phrase

the flesh

or earthly things

there's a temptation

for some Christians

to think

this world

doesn't matter

or earthly existence

doesn't matter

or if I have a job

and it has nothing

to do immediately

with the church

then it must not

be very important.

Paul is not saying that.

When Paul says

earthly things

we have to take

his definition.

Okay so his definition

of earthly things

comes from Colossians.

When he talks

about earthly things

he means people

who are not interested

in Jesus' rule

and his reign.

So Colossians 3

has a long list

of earthly things.

This by the way

is another letter

that Paul wrote

to the people in Colossi.

It includes things

like sexual immorality

covetousness

anger

wrath

malice

slander

obscene talk.

And so Paul's not saying

physical things are bad

or the earthly reality

is bad

what he's saying is

there are people

who want the future

and they want to bring it

into the present.

But then there are people

as one person puts it

who want things

that are present

to become eternal.

They're obsessed

not with

things becoming right

in this world

but things being comfortable

and good for them.

They're interested in pleasure

rather than joy.

And so again

there are only two ways

to live.

There's walking towards

Jesus and the cross

or walking

away from him.

And as we saw last week

we see here in verse 19

this doesn't

just end in a mistake

it ends in destruction.

Verse 19

their end is destruction.

But there's something

more glorious

for the Christian.

Because it says

in verse 20

our citizenship

is in heaven

and from it

we await a savior

the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I'm going to pause

here for a second.

When we think citizenship

we might think

a variety of things.

But we have to remember

that Philippi

was a city

that was proud

of its citizenship.

It was a Roman colony

in a land

that was not Roman.

They were in Macedonia

not Italy.

And not every city

had Roman citizenship

and not every city

was a colony

but they were.

And so unlike

the cities around them

Latin was their

official language.

The whole city

was actually constructed

to look like

a miniature Rome.

So as you were traveling

in this non-Roman area

you could come

to Philippi

and feel like

you know I'm not in Italy

but I feel like

I'm at home.

People had reduced

taxes there

and so there was

incredible pride

in being a citizen

of Philippi.

And they would often

refer to the ruler

of the Roman Empire

as a savior.

because he was the one

who protected them

and cared for them.

And so Paul is saying

this city

is thrilled

with its Roman citizenship

but your hope

is in the future

in your heavenly citizenship.

And you think

lower taxes

is good?

Let me tell you

about something different.

So the earthly savior

Caesar can give you

lower taxes

guess what the heavenly

savior can do?

Verse 21

lower taxes

lower taxes

is not a great deal

compared

with a different savior.

A savior who's going

to give you

a whole new body.

Who's going

to restore the world

to what it was

originally meant to be.

And so it's not that

you put your eyes

on things that are

too much.

It's that you want

too little.

Reminds me of a quote

from C.S. Lewis

from his book

The Weight of Glory.

He says this,

It would seem

that our Lord

finds our desires

not too strong

but too weak.

We are half-hearted

creatures

fooling about

with drink

and sex

and ambition

when infinite joy

is offered us

like an ignorant

child who wants

to go on making

mud pies

in a slum

because he cannot

imagine

what is meant

by the offer

of a holiday

at the sea.

We are far

too easily

pleased.

And so what Paul

is saying is

don't be too easily

pleased

with the things

that those around

you are pleased

with.

But look

to this great

future

because we know

what Jesus did

in his first coming

and in his second

coming.

He is going

to return

and what has

been true

of him

will become

true of you

as well.

Just as Jesus

has a resurrection

body

so you will

be given

a new body

as well.

Just as Jesus

is going to

come and bring

justice on the

earth

so you too

will experience

that ultimate

justice.

Just as you

struggle with

sin

and sickness

and death

Jesus is going

to come

and make an

end of all

of that

forever.

forever.

And so

look to that

because it's

a greater

and more

powerful

future

than anything

that the

Roman Empire

can offer

you.

And so

when we

live by the

spirit

living by the

spirit means

we're looking

to our

heavenly

citizenship.

Doesn't mean

that we

despise this

world that God

created.

He gave it

to us.

He gave it

to us

perfect.

But we

know that

he's going

to come

and make

everything

right that

is wrong.

And so

we look

forward to

that as

our future

as we

live in

the present.

Like Romans

and Philippi

who wanted

to make

their city

look as

much like

Rome as

possible.

Even down

to the

layout of

its streets.

Paul is

telling us

that people

who live

by the

spirit want

what is

true of

us now

to look

as much

like God's

kingdom as

possible.

He wants

our churches

and our

families and

our communities

to be places

of his

goodness and

his justice

and his

mercy.

And we

look to that

now even

when the

powers and

the authorities

around us

are not

interested in

that.

If you

drive enough

around Colorado

Springs or

really any

major city in

the U.S.

you'll see

all kinds

of grocery

stores that

are ethnic

grocery stores

whether it's

an Asian

market or

an Italian

grocery store.

And there's

lots of people

who aren't

from those

countries that

go there.

They're

interested in

what's to

be sold.

But the

people who

are really

interested there

are people

for whom

that's their

home country.

That's the

place they

came from.

Because if

you're in a

new land you

know one of

the things

that's hardest

is not

having the

food that

you're used

to.

Not cooking

the meals of

your culture

and the

place that

you came

from.

That's one

of the first

things you

might experience

is culture

shock in a

new place.

And so it's

important when

there's enough

people of a

community to

make sure

there's a

place where

they can

find the

things of

their home

country.

So they

can cook the

meals that

they're familiar

with the

things that

they're

accustomed to.

And what

Paul is

telling us is

this.

When we

live by the

spirit, we

want more

and more

to make

the dishes

and the

food of

the place

that we

belong to.

Because we're

longing and

looking for

Jesus when

he comes

back again.

And we

know we

can't get

there by

ourselves.

So we

look to

Jesus to

do it.

Please pray

with me.

dear father

in heaven,

we thank

you that

you have

adopted

us and

made us

your children

for those

of us who

follow after

you.

That we

are a part

of your

kingdom.

Even as we

struggle with

life in this

world, we

struggle still

with the

presence of

sin.

We know

that the

future that

you've given

to us.

So we

ask that

you'd

encourage us

with it.

Father, for

those of us

who have

doubts and

questions and

objections to

Christianity, we

ask that you

would continue

to show the

glory and the

beauty of the

kingdom that

you're bringing.

We ask all

these things in

the name of

your son.

Amen.