I'm not there yet | Philippians 3:12-14

Michael, can you please go to this slide?

Michael's gonna be preaching on Philippians 3,

Philippians 3:12–14

verse 12 to 14.

In the pure Bible, it's page 952.

Philippians 3, where it says,

Not that I have already obtained all this,

or have already arrived at my goal,

but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, 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,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Thanks Matt. Good morning everyone.

It's great to be together.

I just would like to encourage you,

if you were thinking about coming next week to the Christmas production,

or the Christmas carols that we're doing,

but on the fence about it, please be there next week, 6 o'clock the 17th.

There's a lot of planning going into it,

and it's gonna be a beautiful night,

and the children are going to be doing a couple of songs.

And also, it might be a good opportunity to bring those people that you're talking to Jesus about

in your workplace, or maybe your families.

This would be the night to bring them along.

Before we get into the passage this morning, these are God's words,

so let's ask God to help us with them.

Father, we thank you so much that we are here today.

Father, as it's been said this morning from this pulpit that,

would you please calm our busy minds?

Would you help us to focus on these words,

that we are not hearing from Matt,

my self from the music this morning, we're really hearing from you through these words.

So with that Lord, we do ask that you would work by your spirit,

that you would change us, that you would show us Jesus.

And we ask for this in his name, amen.

It was once asked of Jewish actor Paul Rudd,

if he was still a practicing Jew,

to which he replied, absolutely not.

No, no, I don't practice Judaism.

Are you kidding me? I've perfected it.

Now, we might laugh, well, if you got the point of that joke you would,

and find that quite humorous,

but the point that our apostle, that he's making in this passage that we have before us this morning,

is a warning against that very thing.

He had not yet perfected the Christian life.

That's right, Paul, who had Christ, or better yet, Christ had Paul,

well, he hadn't arrived yet, not by any stretch of the imagination.

And so though the good news and all its wonderful promises are a very real and present reality

for all of us who are in Christ,

well, we have to admit, we don't exactly experience the fullness of what we look forward to

in ourselves each and every day, do we?

And so we're going to see something here this morning,

something that every single one of us in this room must understand and do.

And that's that we've not arrived yet.

We're not perfect, so run.

Run the race that is set before us.

But before we really hone in and have a look at these things, let's get our bearings.

If you were with us last week, you might remember that Paul wanted the church to rejoice in the Lord,

which is another way of saying rejoice in the truth of the gospel,

to which he really expanded the reality of what Christians have in Christ.

First Paul showed us that we have a real and personal relationship with Jesus because he is our Lord.

And that's the case because he isn't some abstract theory or cosmic mind out there in the universe to us.

Sorry.

No, he is very much a real and present reality in our lives

because we not only hear his voice as his sheep through Scripture, but we trust and obey it.

And so with Paul we can say that we count all things as loss

because of the excellency of knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord.

Secondly, because we have entered into this wonderful and personal relationship with Jesus,

the things of this world have grown strangely dim to us.

And that's because we know that we have gained something so much more greater than anything that this world has to offer.

We've gained Christ himself and have been clothed in his righteousness.

And that's the third thing Paul made us aware of.

There is a righteousness to be received by faith.

So that we might be found in Christ on that last day.

And for anyone who is called upon the name of the Lord, that is a present reality for your life.

To which we desire not just forgiveness, but for sin's power to be completely broken in our lives.

To which forfully Paul points to as a deep seated desire in any born-again person.

We desire to know the power and work of the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead in our very lives right now.

Indeed, a beautiful picture of the Christian life.

Jesus is our Lord because we have gained him.

We are his and he is ours.

And we are clothed in his righteousness and because of the grace of God and his spirit in our lives,

we desire to know him more and more and more.

And for anyone who would read Paul's words in verses 7 through 11, you'd think,

wow, this guy's got it all together.

He physically met Jesus on the road to Damascus.

He knows what it is to suffer and to find God faithful.

He knows how to kill sin in his life and rely totally on the grace of God.

At first glance, we might look at Paul and say, this guy has it all together.

This guy, he's perfected the Christian life.

But it's here that we want to see something.

Paul wants us to avoid that kind of thinking and to avoid thinking that he or anyone on this side of eternity

could stop running their race and believe that they have perfected the Christian life.

So Paul gives us three truths that guide us in avoiding that error and to live the Christian life.

Three things. First, we're not there yet.

Second, we're to keep running towards the goal.

And third, we strive by grace.

Those three things again, we're not there yet.

We're to keep running towards the goal, but we strive by grace.

So first, Paul tells us that we're not there yet saying in verse 12,

not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal.

And again in verse 13, he says, brothers and sisters,

I don't consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

Here that Paul is looking back at those wonderful verses of 7 through to 11 and saying,

friends, all these things are good and true and they are all ours by faith.

But, and this is the important thing for us to see here, but I haven't arrived at my goal.

I haven't taken hold of it.

You might be sitting here this morning and saying,

hey, I thought once we gave our lives to Jesus that we were saved and there was nothing else to do.

Are you telling me that I need to do something more to be saved?

That the gospel truths aren't mine yet?

Well, dear ones, just so there is no confusion among us here this morning,

that's not what Paul is saying here.

Paul is not saying that he has to do more to be saved.

And we want to see why that's not the case.

So it would be helpful to understand exactly what Paul means by goal here.

You see, the word that sits under our English translation goal can be translated as perfect.

The King's James translators rendered the word and I think it captures what Paul is getting at here.

He's saying he's not yet perfect.

So in light of that, in light of that understanding, Paul isn't saying that he has to do more to be saved.

No, not in any way.

As he has just spent three chapters telling us that all the truths that are held out to the Christian in the gospel are indeed ours by faith.

Yet though that is right and true, Paul then makes clear here in the passage before us this morning,

he wasn't walking in the reality of those things perfectly just yet.

He hadn't reached the goal in the flesh.

I want us to think about what's held out to us in the gospel, brothers and sisters.

The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ holds out to us the perfect righteousness of Christ.

The perfect right standing of the perfect one who didn't sin once in thought, word or deed ever, not once.

That is held out to us and we are told that his perfect righteousness is received by faith alone.

Which means that when we hear the gospel and trust in Christ that we are clothed in his perfect life,

that we move from death to life, from judgment to justification.

That is all received by faith and it's ours right now.

It's from that changed and regenerated life that we crave and desire to live like our Lord and Savior.

To experience, as Paul said, the power of the resurrection in our life daily.

But there's a truth about the Christian life that Paul brings out for us here and it's this.

Even though we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, even though we are justified before the throne of God,

and even though we deeply desire not just to be forgiven but to see sins power destroyed in our lives,

well the fact of the matter is this.

We still very much live in this world and still very much wrestle with the sinful body of the flesh that we live in.

It was beautifully brought out before in confession that Matt took us through.

Now if you hear this morning and you'd say that you've been hurt by Christians, by others in the faith,

and this is important for you to understand, all Christians still struggle with sin.

And that's right, all Christians no matter who they are still struggle with sin.

And it's important for you to know that because I think Hollywood portrays Christians as these perfect little do-gooders

who never make mistakes, who are clean shaven and wear buttoned up shirts and have the perfect life.

I mean if you're of the generation that I come from, you might understand the Christians to be like the Simpsons characters,

Ned Flanders or Reverend Lovejoy, who never did the wrong thing yet cast judgment on all their neighbouringos.

However maybe you haven't had such a comical experience.

Maybe you've had people in your life who confess Jesus yet they have acted horribly towards you.

Well dear one, it's important for you to understand that we aren't perfect and all Christians struggle with sin.

However in saying that, in saying we as Christians aren't perfect and that we all still struggle and wrestle,

well we must take responsibility because that is in no way an excuse.

No just because we know that we're not perfect, that we haven't arrived at the goal of sinless perfection and still struggle in this life being a work in progress.

Well we also claim as Christians that we have been transformed by the grace of God and that we can live in ways that are different to the world.

So please hear me this morning. On the one hand if you weren't here this morning and you have been hurt by Christians and others in the faith,

then I am so sorry, I really am, but please don't think that you now have an excuse to reject Jesus or to leave the faith because you've caught a Christian acting badly.

We're not perfect, in fact many of us including myself are far from that goal.

However in saying that on the other hand, brother, sister, those of you who do claim Jesus as Lord of your life,

well we have received something that is transforming us and we claim that to the world.

And so though we might not be perfect, though we might miss the goal, at the end of the day we do tell the world there is something different about us.

And that holds weight with the world.

So that's the first thing Paul is saying here, he has Christ, Christ has him and that is the case for all Christians, for you and me in this very room.

Yet on this side of eternity we're not yet perfect.

However just because we're not yet perfect and haven't arrived at the goal of sinless perfection just yet,

well it doesn't mean that we give up in any which way.

Which brings us to our second point, we're not perfect but we keep running towards the goal.

Now that imagery of keep on keeping on and this striving towards the goal is all over this passage this morning.

We see it right there in verse 12.

Paul says, but I press on.

Again in verses 13 and 14, one thing I do for getting what's behind, straining forward to what's ahead, I press on.

Now it's important that we pick that language up because every Christian, every born again child of God has a deep desire and wants to grow in holiness.

In becoming more and more like Jesus.

And that's what Paul is saying here, as a Christian he says he presses on that he strains forward to what's ahead.

In other words our apostle says this pursuit of holiness in his life is active, it's done with passion.

He's saying I want to be more like Jesus and so I'm going to press on to get to that goal.

Now again I want to make myself crystal clear here.

This isn't Paul telling us that this is the way to be saved.

Church if this is the way to be saved then we're all in a lot of trouble.

Because as we start to claim Christ and pledge to follow Him well we quickly find that we make mistakes and blunders in the pursuit of this holy living.

Now the way that we are saved is by embracing the Lord Jesus Christ through the good news by faith.

What's the good news of Jesus Christ?

Simply that we were created by God for God to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Yet our first parents are the first opportunity to do things their way to make their own decisions of what they thought was good and evil.

Well they rejected our Creator and tried to take things into their own hands.

That's why every single one of us who was born by natural means inherits a sin nature.

And well we sin by nature.

And because God is good and just we all enter into His righteous judgment.

Yet this is the awesome thing.

God is indeed good and just but He's also love and mercy and so in His love and mercy He sent Jesus Christ.

His only begotten Son to save us from judgment and ourselves.

That is the good news of Jesus Christ.

He is the perfect one who lived a life we never could in our place.

He died of death we deserve in our place for forgiveness and acceptance raising for a justification that we don't deserve.

Yet this isn't automatically given.

We are told that anyone no matter who you are what background you come from anyone who responds in faith and repentance to that glorious truth

freely receives forgiveness and is welcomed into the family.

Reintroduced into perfect fellowship with their Creator.

That's the gospel and this is indeed glorious news.

So in hearing Paul talking about pressing on and striving towards perfection

he's not talking about the way to be made right with God.

Now he's just told us how we're to be made right with God in verse 9 of our chapter this morning.

And that's by receiving the perfect ones work by faith.

Now what he's talking about here is how we are to go about being made more and more like our Lord on this side of eternity.

Jesus has saved us by grace.

We keep our eyes on him.

We strive towards that goal.

Now as I said before every single born again believer has this deep desire

because they've been regenerated which means on the one hand they know their own sinfulness yet on the other

they deeply desire holiness.

They desire to be like our Lord and Master Jesus.

Or that to say because of the work of the Holy Spirit in us we don't want to be in the same place as we were yesterday.

That's what Paul is so wonderfully articulating here.

He knows that he is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Yet he is utterly dissatisfied with staying in the same place.

Now he wants to be more like Jesus and so he's going to strive on to that goal.

He's going to press on.

Just the other day I watched an interview with Zach Jones who's recently started playing drums for Sting.

And it was a fascinating interview because Zach, he's a relatively young guy who was given the drum seat of one of the biggest artists in the world.

Now I don't know if you've all heard of Sting but one thing if you have heard of him that you would know is that he only hires the best musicians in the world.

And knowing this Zach was saying that though he isn't the best drummer that's played with Sting nor is he even the most experienced, Sting gave him the gig anyway.

And so he strives to do his best every single time he's behind the kit.

And though he knows he can't play like the greats who have been with Sting in the past, well not only is it an incredible privilege but he's already got the gig.

He's already in the band.

So out of that place of confidence and security he said he has this overwhelming desire to strive to be the best drummer that he can possibly be.

And that's the last point that I want to look at this morning.

We're not there yet so we're to keep running yet we strive by grace.

You see grace is all over this passage.

We look in verse 12 I press on and take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Verse 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me, heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Here what Paul is saying here, we strive, we press on, we run because Christ has already taken hold of us.

We're in Christ.

In other words church we've already got the gig.

That's the place that we run this race from, not from the place to be accepted by God but because of grace alone through faith alone we are accepted by God in Christ.

That is a done deal.

That's from that place of great privilege and acceptance we press on to be more like our Lord and Savior.

Say that another way church, we want to grow in our holiness and Christ likeness not so that we will be accepted by God one day but because God has already accepted us in Christ.

Because of that great privilege of grace revealed in our lives through the gospel we want to grow.

That's what Paul is getting at here.

He's saying Christ has made me his own and because of what he has done for me I want to be like him.

But friends I'm not there yet.

I'm not perfect.

I haven't achieved that goal just yet but I'm certainly going to press on.

Just by way of application we don't want to skip what Paul means by saying in Christ.

It's right there in verse 14.

I say that we don't want to skip it because what Paul is saying there, it makes all the difference.

You see there is only one way to live the Christian life.

Only one way to pursue holiness, to strive towards the goal in this life.

And that's by being in union with Christ.

How's that happen?

That comes by faith alone.

The Holy Spirit causes His people to know that we have sinned and rejected our Creator in every which way.

Yet He also raises our eyes heavenward so that we might look to Christ and trust Him with our all.

It's then and only then as we call upon the name of the Lord that our filthy rags are exchanged for His glorious righteousness.

And that's when the power of the resurrection begins to work on us.

And church as we looked at last week, it's as we've been born again that we have birthed in us a deep, deep desire to be as our Lord

and experience the power of the resurrection this side of eternity.

And that comes by being united with the Lord Jesus.

So as we end our time this morning in this wonderful part of scripture, I want to ask all of you here this morning,

do you want to change your life?

Do you desire to be like Jesus?

Do you see the great privilege that the truth of the gospel holds out to you?

And do you want to strive from that place of acceptance?

I want to say this to you this morning, none of us, not one single person in this room, can change our lives in our own strength.

Jesus, He is the one who transforms us.

So if you were here this morning and you would say that you know you have a Creator in heaven,

in which you have rejected, ignored, disobeyed with everything in your life,

and you know that there is nothing you can do to make amends,

then let me say to you friend that realisation is the work of the Spirit.

And because His work is good and true, He's not revealing sin for sin's sake,

but revealing your unrighteousness so that you may look heavenward to Christ and call upon His name.

That is the good news.

It's as you realise your need for a saviour and turn to Him that you will be saved.

But this is the thing, you must come to Jesus.

You must call upon His name.

But let me say you are here by no mistake this morning,

because Jesus is really being held out to His people in the Gospel.

I also want to say to those of you this morning who would say that you have called upon the name of the Lord.

As we've seen this morning brothers and sisters, our security, our salvation,

isn't based upon how well we do in this life.

No, our salvation is squarely based in Jesus Christ and how He did in His life.

He was totally sinless in thought, word and deed.

Our salvation is based on Christ having embraced us

and then the Holy Spirit uniting us to Himself.

That is the basis of salvation.

But church, that wonderful reality proclaimed this morning should in no way lead us

in moving backwards towards our old lives and sinful ways.

No, the Gospel proclaimed and believed by God's children

will lead God's children to passion and zeal in pursuit of holiness,

because we are reminded yet again what Christ has done for us.

Church, He has chosen us to be with Him.

He has chosen us for the race that we have set before us.

He has chosen us to put His very spirit in our lives

that we might be born again and have this deep desire to know Jesus,

to see Him as our one and all, as our goal and be more like Him.

So yes, we're not perfect, yet by His grace and in His strength

we keep running and running and running until we meet our beloved Saviour face to face.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we are so thankful for the wonderful truths of the Gospel.

Father, we ask that these truths don't tickle our ears or stay in our minds,

but by your spirit you would plunge the truth of the Gospel into our circumcised soft hearts

and that you would give us a deep desire to know Jesus more and more,

to be like Him more and more, that we wouldn't look to our works but to the work of our Saviour.

That you would cause us to look heavenward to that goal, to that prize and transform us.

And we ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

That was the Gospel, friends. That was the Gospel.

And if you're a Christian, that should warm your soul.

Let's sing our final song. There is one Gospel.

There is one Gospel on which I stand for all eternity.

It is my story, my Father's plan. The Son has rescued me.

Oh, my dear Gospel, oh, word of peace. My highest joy and my deepest need.

Now and forever He is my light. I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is one Gospel to which I cling. All else I count has lost.

For there were justice and mercy me. He saved me on the cross.

No more I burst in doubt I can bring. No more I carry the weight of sin.